Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal • September 3, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Briefs Report: CT's cost of living too high for 40% of households Connecticut's high costs of living are taking a major bite out of family earnings. A new report says 40 percent of Connecticut households are earning less than what is needed to run a family: housing, health care, food, child care, technology and transportation. The Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed (ALICE) report by Connecticut United Ways says 30 percent of families (404,035) earn more than the federal poverty line but under a basic cost-of- living threshold. These households are known as ALICE. Including households living in poverty, 40 percent (538,529) of Connecticut families are unable to afford housing, food, health care, child care, technology and transportation, according to the report, which draws from the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey. Connecticut families must earn almost $78,000 a year to run a household of four including one infant and one toddler. S. Windsor preserves 50 farm acres The town of South Windsor says about 50 acres of rich farmland within its borders will be permanently set aside for agricultural use. Mayor M. Saud Anwar and state Agriculture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky announced the joint acquisition for more than $700,000 of development rights to the acreage owned by the Shepard family, located on the east side of Main Street and the southern side of Pleasant Valley Road. The rights were acquired under the state's voluntary Farmland Preservation Program. The farm has four tobacco sheds, plus the historic Adler-Dobkin warehouse on Main Street, used for production of a variety of crops. Anwar said the town contributed $245,500 — which town voters approved in a 2012 open space referendum — to the state's $462,254 share, to purchase the development rights from the Shepards. The town placed a conservation easement on the acreage, permanently restricting its use for agriculture only. CBIA begins to shape messaging ahead of election, session The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), the state's largest business lobby, has launched a new marketing and advertising campaign ahead of the November elections aimed at pushing its message in and beyond next year's legislative session, which will have a new governor for the first time since Dannel P. Malloy took office in 2011. "Fix Connecticut," unveiled Aug. 27, prioritizes economic and job growth, cutting state spending, lowering taxes, reforming the state's employee retirement system and nixing "costly" workplace mandates, CBIA said. The roughly $600,000 campaign will run through at least the start of the 2019 General Assembly session with digital, broadcast and print advertising, CBIA said. With CT home sales up, prices rise Connecticut home sales climbed in July, with their median price approaching a five-year high, new data shows. There were 3,942 single-family houses sold statewide last month, up 7 percent from 3,686 homes sold in July 2017, according to the latest survey from The Warren Group. Meanwhile, the median single-family home price increased 4.1 percent from a year ago, to $280,000, Warren Group said. The July median price was unchanged from June. So far this year, single-family home sales overall are flat, at 19,517 transactions, Warren Group said. Yet, their year-to-date median sale price of $260,000 is 4 percent higher during the same seven-month period. "This is only the second time this year that the number of single-family home sales increased on a year-over-year basis," said Cassidy Murphy, associate publisher of The Warren Group. "Connecticut's single-family home inventory is approaching a more balanced market and has had a positive impact on prices." Week in Review TOP STORY Yard Goats set attendance mark; UConn football struggles at box office A n up-and-down season on the field didn't keep the Hartford Yard Goats from drawing big crowds, as the team set a new annual Connecticut attendance record for minor-league baseball, the team said. The Yard Goats surpassed the 400,000 attendance mark in one of its last home games of the season Aug. 29 vs. the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, becoming the first minor league baseball club in the state to surpass that benchmark during a single season. The Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies also recorded a club-record 46 home sellouts, including its last 18 games at Dunkin' Donuts Park, team officials said. Meantime, seven consecutive losing seasons for UConn football caused the team to experience a dramatic drop in ticket sales prior to its first game Aug. 30 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford. UConn sold just 9,000 season tickets before its season opener, which represents a 44 percent decrease vs. 16,000 season tickets the team sold in 2017. BY THE NUMBERS 48.2% The percentage decline in attendance at UConn football games since 2008, when Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford averaged 39,331 fans a game, according to the NCAA. $280,000 The median price of a single-family home sold in Connecticut during the month of July, which was up 4.1 percent from a year ago, according to the Warren Group. $78,000 The minimum amount a family of four in Connecticut must earn to afford to live in the state, according to a new report by Connecticut United Ways. $700,000 The amount the state and town of South Windsor paid to preserve 50 acres of the Shepard family's farm- land for agricultural use. TOP 5 MOST READ On HartfordBusiness.com • 1. Report: CT's cost of living too high for 40% of households • 2. CBIA begins to shape messaging ahead of election, session • 3. Incoming W. Hartford fintech has new name • 4. W. Hfd.'s ex-Westwood Apts. fetch $20.85M • 5. Lamont's property tax plan faces steep obstacles at outset STAY CONNECTED For breaking and daily Greater Hartford business news go to www.HartfordBusiness.com HBJ on Twitter: @HartfordBiz HBJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HartfordBiz HBJ on Linkedln: www.linkedin.com/company/ the-Hartford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend www.HartfordBusiness.com/ subscribe Dunkin' Donuts Park in downtown Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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