The $49.6 million budget hole of Hartford, Conn., and the impending departure of one of its biggest employers, Aetna Inc., have shined a light on its unusual predicament: Half of the city's properties are excluded from paying tax because they are government entities, hospitals and universities, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. It has less taxable property than the neighboring suburban community of West Hartford, which has less than half of the population than its urban neighbor. And Hartford's total property-tax receipts are about 25 percent below that of tony community of Greenwich. "The root of the problem is you have a city built on a tax base of suburb," said Mayor Luke Bronin. The mayor said that the small tax base along with growing fixed costs produced structural budget deficits that prior administrations sought to deal with through asset sales, short-term debt restructuring and property-tax increases. Bronin is now asking for financial help from the state to help close Hartford's budget hole.
