Date: Fri 06-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

council-business-tax-break

Full Text:

Second Firm Says It Was Offered A Tax Break Too

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Last week, it was Neumade Products that was claiming the town offered it a tax

break. Now, Sonics & Materials is making the same claim.

Neither company is all too happy with the way town officials appear to be

reneging on the alleged offer.

Lauren Soloff, a vice president with Sonics & Materials, urged the Legislative

Council Wednesday to pass an ordinance that would provide for certain tax

breaks. Ms Soloff said Sonics & Materials was treated extremely well by town

officials before it made the decision to come to Newtown, so the company was

surprised to learn that they may have been misled.

Mrs Soloff thought the program was pretty much set in stone until last week

when she read The Newtown Bee and discovered that there was a problem. As it

turns out, there is no official town tax-deferral program.

"We plan to stay in Newtown for a long time. We're asking for you to follow

through on what has been offered to us by [former first selectman] Bob

Cascella," she said to the council.

After Wednesday's meeting, however, it is clear that the council will not be

making a decision on a tax-break program any time soon. First Selectman Herb

Rosenthal said he plans to recommend to the selectmen that they rescind the

tax-break endorsement made by the Cascella administration last year. Mr

Rosenthal wants to make sure more companies do not move to Newtown with

similar misconceptions.

Why all the confusion?

Last year, members of the Economic Development Commission (EDC), seeking a

tax-break ordinance, presented the tax-deferral program to the council, but

never returned after council members asked them to refine certain sections of

the proposal. The Cascella administration then passed a resolution supporting

tax breaks, a move that came as a surprise to the council, which was still

awaiting word from the EDC.

Neumade Product's Ronald Jones said he received better tax-break offers from

other towns, especially in New York State, but he opted to come to Newtown

because he liked what it had to offer. He said he did expect some form of a

tax break. Mr Jones said he constructed a building that will last for more

than 100 years, and he doesn't think his company will require any town

services.

"I don't know why you have a community development director [Liz Stocker] if

you don't want to offer anything to new companies," he said.

Council member Melissa Pilchard said Mr Jones was given the impression that he

would receive a tax break, and it now looks as if the town is going back on

its word.

"This really, really bothers me," she said.

Mr Rosenthal said there is nothing in the town's current "tax-break"

resolution that he could use to determine which companies should get breaks

and which should not.

"You need an economic model to determine that," council member Brian White

said.

Council member Joe Borst said the entire program should be thrown back to the

EDC. "They never came back to us," he said. "We should not take any action.

The EDC should get its act together."

The problem, however, is that the EDC members who first drew up the

tax-deferral plan are no longer members of the panel.

According to Ms Soloff, Sonics & Materials first learned of the tax-break plan

from Mr Cascella at its groundbreaking ceremony this past October.

"It's almost like they welcomed us in with open arms, then, all of a sudden,

we're the bad guys," Ms Soloff said.

Neumade Products, located on Pecks Lane, produces motion picture production

equipment. Sonics & Materials manufactures high-intensity ultrasonic plastics

assembly equipment.