Stafstrom Reels In Savings For Bluefish

News release from State Rep. Steve Stafstrom:

State Representative Steven Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport) hailed state House passage late Wednesday of a bill that allows Bridgeport the time the city needs to study the potential benefits of implementing land value taxation. The bill also provides an economic benefit to the Bridgeport Bluefish baseball team and to the Steelpointe project.

The bill, HB 7060, provides Bridgeport with the additional year it needs under a previously authorized pilot program to complete a study of the potential benefit of implementing land value taxation. A land value tax is a levy on the unimproved value of land only, not on any improvement upon the land.

In addition, the bill exempts the state’s admission tax for the Bridgeport Bluefish Atlantic League professional baseball games played at Harbor Yard Ballpark from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2017 and gives Bridgeport’s Steelpointe Special Taxing District five additional years to obtain funds for making public improvements.

“Working to improve our City’s economic climate and reducing Bridgeport’s residential tax burden are top priorities,” Rep. Stafstrom said. “This bill provides the City the flexibility it needs to study whether an alternative taxation structure might benefit our homeowners and provides a tangible economic benefit to our local baseball team. I am pleased to have co-sponsored the legislation and look forward to its eventual approval in the state Senate and the Governor’s signature.”