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16 Hartford Business Journal • June 12, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com EDITORIAL CT now susceptible to corporate blackmail A cornerstone of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's economic development policies — pro- viding grants, loans and tax breaks to companies that add or retain jobs in the state — has left Connecticut vulnerable to bullying and blackmail. Particularly in the wake of General Electric's headquarters move to Boston, and Aetna's pending move, probably to New York City, companies now see an opportunity to demand a ransom in order to stay or grow in the state. The latest example is Dominion Energy, which suggested that it might close its aging Millstone Power Station in Waterford if lawmakers didn't adopt a bill giving it a new, more lucrative way to sell its power. The Millstone proposal was one of the most controversial this legislative session and was declared dead at one point. That prompted a Dominion lobbyist to warn that the company would reassess the plant's future if it didn't get its way. He even alluded to Aetna's recent headquarters announcement as a need for Con- necticut to support its only nuclear power plant, which faces some economic headwinds, produces 59 percent of the power consumed by in-state utility customers and employs more than 1,000 workers. Shortly after Dominion's comments, the complicated bill — which could alleviate or exacerbate Connecticut's already high energy prices, depending on whose analysis you believe — was revived and passed by the Senate. Such power by a corporation should be a concern to all taxpayers, particularly smaller businesses that don't carry the political heft of a large employer. While we understand that corporate greenmail has become a hallmark of most states' economic development strategies, the Malloy administration's overreliance on providing companies incentives in exchange for jobs promises has made Connecticut vulnerable to bad deals. (To be fair, Millstone wasn't asking for incentives, but it was asking for a new regulatory structure that would benefit its bottom line.) The strategy, which has failed to stimulate Connecticut's slow-growing economy, is really meant to compensate for a poor business climate created by years, decades even, of fiscal mismanagement and bad policymaking. If the state doesn't get its fiscal house in order and pass other pro-growth policies the problem will only get worse. Tolls are inevitable in CT Connecticut lawmakers decided not to bring back tolls to Connecticut's highways this legislative session, but it will only be a matter of time before drivers have to pay to use the state's highways. The state House of Representatives last week debated for more than an hour a bill that would allow tolling in Connecticut, but failed to garner enough support. Specifi- cally, the bill would have required the state Department of Transportation to craft a plan to establish tolls, but didn't guarantee their implementation. We supported the measure because we think toll revenues are needed to remedy Connecticut's aging transportation infrastructure and a special transportation fund that is projected to become insolvent by 2020. House Republicans raised the biggest concern about the bill, arguing that Demo- crats would use toll revenues to help fill holes in other parts of the budget. We share similar concerns, as does the broader business community, which is why any proposal to add tolls to Connecticut's interstates must be accompanied by a legally binding promise from lawmakers to use those funds strictly for maintaining roads, bridges and highways. Such a constitutional "lockbox," however, must be approved by voters directly and the earliest that could happen is in 2018. We'd also favor adoption of a strict spending cap as well to further restrain lawmak- ers' insatiable spending habits. In the meantime, there is no harm in preparing a tolls plan for the state. If and when a strict lockbox is adopted, Connecticut should be ready to act. In particular, the state needs to collect more revenues from out-of-state drivers who use our highways but don't help pay for them. That's why we think tolls should be placed at our borders, rather than in central Connecticut. Let's have commuters from New York and Massachusetts help foot our transportation bill. n OTHER VOICES A regional roadmap for improved town services By Lyle Wray and Elliot Ginsberg R ecently, Hartford Business Journal featured an opinion piece ("State, local leaders have chance to reinvent CT government,") from Bruce Carlson, head of the Connecticut Technology Council, calling for a regional effort to increase tech- nological efficien- cies in the state and introduce municipal and state officials to technologies to help them save money. The Capitol Region Council of Govern- ments (CRCOG) and the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc. (CCAT) wholeheartedly agree. We want to share what has been done so far and highlight the opportunities ahead for using infor- mation technology to help our state's communi- ties grapple with challenging financial times. Several years ago CRCOG con- ducted a study with towns that identi- fied eight areas for greater productivity in back-office infor- mation technology service sharing. As a result of the study, CRCOG part- nered with CCAT to accelerate updated technology adop- tion in many towns across the state. As part of the Con- necticut Municipal Opportunities for Regional Efficien- cies (MORE) Com- mission's Demonstration Projects, CRCOG established five new IT services pilot pro- grams in 32 towns. Since the launch of the pilot programs in 2014, CCAT has been working alongside CRCOG to demonstrate the capabilities of shared technology solutions as well as cost- savings achieved by delivery over the high- speed, fiber optic Connecticut Education Network (CEN). Two of the pilot programs — internet- based phones and cloud-based infrastruc- ture-as-a-service — are now available to communities statewide through CRCOG. A third test program, video streaming of public meetings, was completed in March. Development and testing is proceeding for the final two pilot programs: A human resources portal that will contain compre- hensive HR best practices, information, and an online toolkit; and an electronic document management system. The latter program has vast potential for helping our towns deal with the paper tsunami sur- rounding public services. The foundation of these programs lies in leveraging the Connecticut Education Net- work to deliver IT services that have a positive impact on operational costs and efficiencies. CEN is a very high capacity and reliable fiber network. In addition to the network, the pilot programs use a newly created municipal pri- vate cloud, which provides efficient storage, eliminates the need for on-site hosting equip- ment, and allows for a rapid modernization of services across towns on the network. Currently, 36 of CRCOG's 38 towns have access to CEN. Using a custom- developed approach for applications and services, towns receive the ser- vices they need to meet their goals and streamline operations. Costs are minimized as the total development expense is shared among towns. The test projects are posi - tive proof that IT shared services work and work very well. Yet much more remains to be done. The potential is there to leverage CEN to serve all 169 towns throughout the state with a much expanded offering of services. We are hear- ing from police departments state- wide that want to implement the use of body-worn cam- eras. Video data storage is a major issue in deploying the cameras — how to store, secure and manage the thou- sands of hours of videos captured through daily use. A practical, affordable solution for video storage is critical to the expanding demand for body-worn camera use as an integral part of police work. We are in the process of working collaborative- ly with data storage specialists to develop cost-effective, reliable solutions. And, by allocating development costs regionally, costs will be lowered significantly. Using CEN, a municipal cloud, and col- laborative efforts across councils of govern- ment, towns and cities, there are significant opportunities to improve services to our residents even in these challenging financial times. Our state legislature launched the MORE Commission in 2010 to advance pro- grams based on this philosophy. At CRCOG and CCAT, we are committed to accelerating our efforts. We are witnessing the positive impact of this approach through our IT pilot projects. These programs are just the beginning of a path forward to a strong, sustainable economic future for our towns, our cities and our state. n Lyle Wray is the executive director of the Cap- itol Region Council of Governments. Elliot Ginsberg is the president/CEO of the Con- necticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc. Lyle Wray Elliot Ginsberg OPINION & COMMENTARY ▶ ▶ Using ... collaborative efforts across councils of government, towns and cities, there are significant opportunities to improve services to our residents even in these challenging financial times.