Mayor Tim O’Brien
Annual Message 2012
- Economic Development
- No Tax Increase
- More Efficient Administration
- Maintaining Services
Balancing the budget without raising taxes requires significant changes to be made at city hall. That’s why I proposed my “City Hall Consolidation Plan,” which the Council also approved.
The plan is designed to save taxpayer money, make City Hall more efficient; increasing the chances we’ll be able to sustain current services into the future. The consolidation plan is a huge priority for my administration and we will be moving forward with consolidating 21 city departments down to six. The benefits of consolidation won’t just help us financially this year – but will save tax dollars every year after.
In addition, consolidation helped my administration close the city deficit which grew over the last 5 budget years to an all-time high of $30 million. My priorities are simple: improve the quality of life, support our schools, strengthen public safety, and reform city government to be more efficient and accountable. I will continue to take the necessary actions to make New Britain vibrant through positioning the city for continued investment, economic development and job growth.
In the first 8 months, I have negotiated and announced several exciting business proposals for economic development. There is a new wave of high skilled, high paid manufacturing jobs coming back to the United States and I’m committed to positioning our great city to be out in front of this wave. We recently announced the sale of 8.5 acres of city land, at the site of Pinnacle Heights Housing Project, to Polamer Precision, a local manufacturing company.
Polamer will be building a 160,000 square foot facility and bringing with it 130 jobs. My administration worked closely with Polamer to sell the property and created an economic assistance package that helped make their move and expansion here in New Britain possible.
Peter Paul Electronics, another local manufacturer, recently announced they would be expanding and creating 75 new jobs after Governor Dan Malloy and I announced municipal/state loan package, worth over $2.5 million, which allows them to expand and update their technology.
Costco continues to move forward with their plans to build a 150,000 square foot store which will mean over 200 jobs and $500,000 in much needed tax revenue. Additionally, the Hartford to New Britain Busway is now actively under construction, bringing hundreds of jobs with it. We will continue to see rapid progress in upcoming months.
Our new police station downtown is on track to be completed next December. We are in the process of reviewing proposals for businesses to occupy the first floor retail space of the police station. Downtown New Britain is poised for an upswing – our newest downtown restaurant, Tools Bar & Grill, with its live jazz and blues is a sign that the resurgence has already started.
As always, I am interested in hearing your views, ideas and concerns. I encourage you to call my office at (860) 826-3303, email me: mayor@timobrien.org or visit my Facebook page at facebook.com/TimOBrienNB.
It has been an honor to serve as your mayor for the past 8 months. I thank you and look forward to working for a brighter future for New Britain.
Sincerely,
Tim O'Brien
Mayor
