OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
SB-1110
AN ACT AMENDING THE CONVEYANCE OF PARCELS OF STATE
LAND TO THE NEW HAVEN PORT AUTHORITY.
Primary Analyst: EMG 5/26/21
Contributing Analyst(s):
Reviewer: MM
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $
Resources of the Special Transportation Fund TF - Revenue
Loss
Up to
$245,000
Department of Transportation TF - Cost Potential
Significant
Note: TF=Transportation Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 22 $
New Haven See Below See Below
Explanation
The bill modifies a conveyance of land from the Department of
Transportation (DOT) to the New Haven Port Authority (PA 18-154
section 6) and results in significant costs to the DOT, along with
potential cost reduction to the New Haven Port Authority.
The bill would reduce the cost of the conveyance from fair market
value (approximately $245,000 based on the appraisals conducted for
the original 2018 conveyance) by the "costs for investigating and
remediating environmental contamination" on the related land, which
has several fiscal impacts.
Preliminary testing is anticipated to cost approximately $20,000.
Prior to the testing, the level of remediation necessary to fulfill the 2021SB-01110-R000740-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
requirements of the bill is unknown. Costs to DOT, and/or the
reduction of revenue from the sale of such property, for the required
remediation are likewise unknown, but are potentially significant. For
example, the State regularly provides grants up to $2 million per
project for brownfield remediation.
If investigation and remediation costs are less than the fair market
value of the property, any cost incurred under the terms of the
conveyance would result in a loss of one-time revenue to the Special
Transportation Fund and a decrease in cost to the New Haven Port
Authority. Under the modified terms of the conveyance, it is unclear
whether DOT would be required to incur costs of remediation beyond
the fair market value of the property. If allowed, investigation and
remediation costs beyond fair market value would potentially increase
costs to DOT.
Additionally, the land in question was originally obtained using
federal funds; DOT agreements with the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) require that such sites be sold at fair market
value, with proceeds of the sale deposited in the Special
Transportation Fund. To the extent the FHWA does not approve of a
modified agreement to allow conveyance of the land at less than fair
market value, DOT would be required to reimburse the FHWA for a
portion of the current value, resulting in an unknown cost to DOT.
The bill also modifies the conveyance to require the land to be used
for economic development purposes and allows lease of the land for
the same purpose. The asset would revert to state control if the
recipient does not use the land for specified purposes. Reversion to
state control would mitigate the loss of asset allowed by the original
conveyance.