Category: Local News

 

 

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that he is appointing five Connecticut residents to fill vacancies on the State Board of Accountancy, the panel responsible for licensing and regulating accountants in the state.

 

“The State Board of Accountability plays a critical role in providing oversight and setting standards for this important profession,” Governor Malloy said.  “The personal and professional experiences of each of these appointees provides them with valuable perspective for this role, and will help guide them in carrying out their responsibilities on the Board of Accountancy.”

 

The members appointed today, including the board’s chairman, are:

 

• John H. Schuyler of Simsbury (Chairman) – Partner at Marcum, LLP
• Timothy F. Egan of Darien – Partner at KPMG, LLP
• Dannell R. Lyne of Trumbull – Tax Partner at Dylewsky, Goldberg & Brenner, LLC
• Marcia L. Marien of Norwich – Partner/CPA at O’Connor Davies, LLP
• Peter J. Niedermeyer of Simsbury – Partner, Director of Accounting and Auditing at Blum Shapiro & Co.

 

The board is located for administrative purposes within the Office of the Secretary of the State.  It consists of nine members, including five accountants and four public members, all of whom are appointed by the Governor, who receives recommendations from the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants.

 

Tax Credit Program

Westport Director of Human Services, Barbara Butler announced today that the Town of

Westport is currently accepting applications for the 2014 Neighborhood Assistance Act

(NAA) Tax Credit Program sponsored by the CT Dept. of Revenue Services (DRS). The

NAA program is designed to provide funding for municipal and tax exempt organizations by

providing a corporation business tax credit for businesses that make cash contributions to these

entities.

The NAA program allows businesses to claim a State tax credit for cash contributions made

to qualifying community programs conducted by tax exempt or municipal agencies. The

types of community programs that qualify for the NAA tax credit program include but are not

necessarily limited to: energy conservation; employment and training; child care services;

neighborhood assistance; substance abuse; open space acquisition; crime prevention programs

and affordable housing development. The minimum contribution on which a tax credit may

be granted is $250 and the maximum contribution that any nonprofit or municipal entity can

receive under this program is $150,000. There are no Town funds involved in this program.

Each municipal agency or tax-exempt organization that wishes to participate in the NAA

Program must complete the program proposal application available on the CT DRS website.

This form must be submitted to the municipality for approval by its governing body. All

locally approved programs must be submitted to the DRS no later than July 1.

For further information about the Neighborhood Assistance Act Program please go to the DRS

website at http://www.ct.gov/DRS. Agencies wishing to participate should submit applications

to the attention of Barbara H. Butler, Director, Westport Department of Human Services, 110

Myrtle Ave., Westport, CT 06880 by Wednesday, May 21. The list of participating agencies

will be submitted to the Representative Town Meeting for approval at its meeting on June 3.

 

Bridgeport, CT – March 20, 2014

 

 

 

The WorkPlace Board of Directors will convene its quarterly meeting continuing the oversight of the development of Southwestern Connecticut’s Regional Workforce. 

 

 

 

 

 

WHO:          Joseph M. Carbone, CEO & President, The WorkPlace              

 

                  

 

WHAT:        The WorkPlace’s Board of Directors Meeting

 

 

 

WHERE:      Holiday Inn, Bridgeport

 

1070 Main Street, Bridgeport, CT

 

 

 

WHEN:        Friday, March 21, 2014

 

                    8:15 AM – 9:30 AM

 

                                               

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

 

 

From I-95 (North or South) take exit 27A and then take exit 2. Turn right off the exit to Lafayette Square and turn left at the traffic light onto Fairfield Avenue. Go 2 blocks, hotel is on the right at the corner of Main Street and Fairfield Avenue.

 

 

Street parking is available or you may park in the garage located on Middle Street.

 

Initiative Promotes Freedom of Choice In Long-Term Care System

 

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that his administration is awarding $9 million in first-time funding to help Connecticut’s nursing home industry diversify services to meet the changing needs of older adults and other citizens with disabilities.

 

The grants are part of the state’s Strategic Plan to Rebalance Long-Term Services and Supports, a ground-breaking initiative to expand long-term service options for people who can live safely in the community instead of an institution.

 

“Simply put, many people are looking for greater choice about where and how they receive care,” Governor Malloy said.  “Our initiative promotes freedom of choice in the long-term care system by expanding the options available to our aging adults and other adults with disabilities.”

 

Part of the strategy involves helping skilled nursing facilities adapt to the growing demand for community-based services and supports.  In the first of three projected rounds of funding to help nursing homes diversify service delivery models, seven proposals were selected through a competitive procurement process:

 

• Southington Care Center (Central Connecticut Senior Health Services) – maximum award: $2,051,148.  The proposal aims to increase capacity to deliver and promote community services by building a single point of entry for central Connecticut residents, including a 24-hour hotline and a tool kit for community services; expand choice and improve health outcomes by expanding geriatric care management and creating a person-centered education and engagement program; and raising awareness about community long-term services and supports by developing a comprehensive marketing strategy targeted to hospitals.

 

• Mary Wade Home, Inc. (New Haven) – maximum award: up to $2,001,730, including up to $200,000 in pre-development funds and $1 million in capital funds.  The proposal establishes a home-maker companion agency to increase supply of direct-care workers in New Haven, expand person-centered educational opportunities and establish community navigators to assist people with connecting to local community supports.

 

• Litchfield Woods Healthcare Center (Torrington) – maximum award:  $2,269,103.  The proposal aims to expand infrastructure to support hospice services in the northwest corner and to open a home-health agency satellite.

 

• Miller Memorial Community, Inc. (Meriden) – maximum award: $1,338,110.  The proposal aims to introduce a new service delivery model that will improve continuity of care and help community members avoid nursing home placement, reduce length of stay in the nursing home and reduce hospitalizations post discharge.

 

• Hebrew Home and Hospital, Inc. (West Hartford) – maximum award: $1,072,220.  The proposal includes diversifying a wing of the nursing home to a transitional living wing which provides additional services and supports the transition of people back to the community.

 

• Hughes Health and Rehabilitation, Inc. (West Hartford).  Maximum award: $197,420.  The proposal includes funding for a community assessment to explore the need for establishment of adult family homes and a transitional living wing.

 

• Jewish Home for the Elderly of Fairfield County, Inc. (Fairfield)

Maximum award: $81,260.  The proposal includes the development of a protocol for affordable, community-based living in an adult family living home as an option so that seniors can remain in or return to the community from a nursing home.

 

The initial request for proposals was issued by the Department of Social Services, in conjunction with the Departments of Housing and Public Health.  The next request for proposals is anticipated to be issued this summer, with expected funding of up to $25 million available.  Federal and state Medicaid funding, as well as state bond funds, support the initiative.

 

“This new funding will help nursing homes expand the services they provide to better meet the changing long-term care needs of Connecticut’s elderly and citizens with disabilities,” said Office of Policy and Management Undersecretary Anne Foley.  “With this funding, we are encouraging the industry to develop a continuum of services that will help Connecticut residents remain a part of the community whenever possible.”

 

Department of Social Services Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby said, “One of the noteworthy factors in this process is our success in building the first state/federal partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support nursing home diversification.  This is critical, since HUD underwrites mortgages for 59 of the approximately 230 nursing facilities in Connecticut. Nursing facilities wishing to diversify business models must get support from underwriters to use the building for a purpose other than the traditional nursing home model.”

 

Department of Housing Commissioner Evonne M. Klein said, “Connecticut’s aging residents need as many care and living solutions as possible.  The Governor’s strategic plan and this funding are important steps to address the long-term needs of this population.  With the number of long-term care recipients only growing, we need to focus our energy on options that increase the number of people who can receive care in their homes, which will reduce costs for everyone and improve the quality of life for many.”

 

Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Jewel Mullen said, “This initiative fosters new care models which will allow people entering the long term care system to remain in their own home and enhance their quality of life.  Most of the proposals chosen for this initiative can be implemented without changes to current regulations.  DPH looks forward to working with health care providers and other state agencies to support these resident-centered care delivery models that ultimately will lead to better patient safety and reduced health care costs.”

 

Connecticut’s Strategic Plan to Rebalance Long-Term Services and Supports, released by Governor Malloy last year, includes the nation’s first town-by-town projection of a state’s long-term care needs and strategies to meet those needs (www.ct.gov/dss/rebal

).  These data provide the framework for rebalancing initiatives, including funding for skilled nursing facility diversification.

 

Even with Medicaid continuing to fund more than $1.6 billion in institutional care alone in Connecticut, the trend of nursing facilities seeing less demand for their services has been increasing in Connecticut and elsewhere.  A total of 35 skilled nursing facilities have closed since January 2001 as resident censuses declined across the state.

 

The strategic rebalancing initiative includes a coordinated approach to reducing institutionalized beds where projections indicate that they will not be needed, and ensuring that nursing facilities diversify their services to participate in prevailing home- and community-based care trends.

 

HARTFORD – In Wednesday’s Education Committee meeting, State Representative Gail Lavielle (R-143) introduced legislation that would have eliminated the requirement for school districts to adopt uniform regional school calendars. Her proposal, which she raised in an amendment to a related bill, did not pass after much discussion by the committee.

 

The adoption of uniform regional school calendars, which would take local control away from Boards of Education, was mandated by the state in legislation passed in 2013. Rep. Lavielle’s amendment would have made adopting uniform regional school calendars optional, preserving local control over education.

 

“I am very disappointed that the majority of the Education Committee’s members refused to take into account the very strong objections expressed by school districts throughout our district and Western Connecticut to the mandate for uniform regional school calendars,” said Rep. Lavielle. “School districts have always been able to collaborate to adopt regional school calendars if they wanted to, so why should they now be required to do it?

 

“Many educators, administrators, and Board of Education members in our part of the state strongly oppose this idea for several reasons, including professional development imperatives and local customs and preferences, and many have also said that the potential for savings on transportation is negligible. The mandate for regional school calendars is just one more indication of the one-size-fits-all view of education that is so prevalent in the General Assembly. School districts and the families they serve should have more control over their destiny.”