DECD: the state's economic umbrella agency
The agency includes new terms and funding for various qualified applicants
Connecticut’s Department of Commerce was replaced in with the Department of Economic and Community Development, hereafter known as the DECD.
The name change indicates the agency’s central planning extends, some would say, well beyond commerce. The data suggests a growing, state-centralized model of communities, created from state-funded businesses and jobs.
The agency takes a comprehensive approach to economic development that incorporates community development, transportation, education, and arts and culture.
Meet the DECD commissioners.
Business, Community, Funding, Research…
In addition to promoting CT’s economic climate, the DECD promotes arts, tourism and maintains “a current, transparent library of materials on the business of doing business in Connecticut. You will find economic and housing data, state and town demographics, research reports and strategic documents, and other information.”
Research access. Town profiles—-from Advance CT
The Department has become the stop-gap measure for businesses and developers to germinate, through funded grants or tax incentives. The state’s dismal tax rating suggests most, if not all of the DECD’s funding is being siphoned from Connecticut’s workers.
The agency’s flagship site is called “Choose CT”.
Data centers
The DECD umbrella also includes data centers:
“To support the growth of data centers and other high-tech industries, the State of Connecticut passed legislation to induce data centers to locate in the state. The Data Center Tax Incentive Program allows DECD to provide tax exemptions to eligible data centers that locate within the state and make a minimum investment.”
Data centers—-more specifically, Qualified Data Centers (QDCs) are being hailed as a step forward, as wireless tech (aka broadband) markets are inflated with more state incentives.
More incentives with ‘Investment Communities’
In the centralized model, ‘targeted investment communities’ are also called Enterprise Zones. Those called ‘public investment communities’ are Enterprise Corridor Zones.
To qualify for the state label of “distressed municipality” means more funding for your town.
“Connecticut has greatly expanded the number of State-approved municipalities that may offer the various enterprise zone benefits—from the original 6 cities and towns in 1982, to over 45 participating municipalities in 2021.
There are 10 types of zone designations in Statutes that authorize the State and approved municipalities to offer various incentives, with goals to encourage new economic development, lower the cost of doing business in Connecticut, increase private investment, expand the local tax base, re-use underused properties, grow important industry clusters, and expand job opportunities for zone residents.”
