Oil dealers to honor contracts
PROVIDENCE – Oil dealers who canceled contracts with customers after the price of heating oil rocketed through the $2.00 a gallon barrier have agreed to reinstate those contracts, the attorney general announced. Customers complained to the attorney general’s consumer protection unit that their contracts had been canceled and they had been asked to pay at the prevailing retail rate -at the time, as high as $2.12 a gallon. Prices subsequently skidded to the $1.50 range as more supplies became available, but on the world market, fluctuating oil prices rose again. Heating oil dealers for years have been offering contracts at a fixed price to lock in customers on a budget plan, which usually includes a service plan and fee.
A.T.Cross to lay off workers in Ireland, add RI jobs
LINCOLN – As a follow-up to its announcement of a company-wide restructuring, A.T.Cross reported it was laying off about 100 workers at its plant in Ireland and adding some of those jobs to its plant here in Rhode Island. The company said the plant in Ballinasloe, Ireland would be used as a distribution center for shipment of Cross products to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. By consolidating its pen production in Rhode Island, an A.T.Cross spokesman said, the company hoped to reduce costs and increase profits in its writing instrument business.
Biltmore plans renovations
PROVIDENCE – The Providence Biltmore hotel announced a $7.5 million renovation project for its third and fourth floors, previously occupied by the Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America. The trade association is moving into a new building in the Silver Spring Street office park in Providence. The hotel plans to put 50 new rooms in the renovated space, as well as replacing some of the hotel’s mechanical systems, including its elevators. The Biltmore, now owned by Historic Hotel Partners of RI, was opened in 1922.
Employment outlook bright, survey shows
PROVIDENCE – Forty-seven percent of companies responding to an employment outlook survey reported they would be hiring more workers in the second quarter, starting in April, Manpower Inc., which conducts the survey, reported. That figure compares with the 10 percent who reported they would be cutting back employment, and 43 percent who said they would be standing pat. At the start of the last quarter, only 33 percent of companies said they would be hiring in the following quarter, but 13 percent said they would be reducing staff. Nationally, the survey showed, 32 percent of the 16,000 companies survey said they planned to new hiring, 6 percent said they would reduce employment, 58 percent said they planned no change in employment and 4 percent said they were undecided.
Governor swears in Indeglia to Superior Court
WEST KINGSTON – Gov. Lincoln Almond swore in Judge Gilbert Indeglia to the Superior Court in ceremonies last Monday at the Courthouse Center for the Arts here. Judge Indeglia had been an associate judge of District Court since 1989, assistant town solicitor and probate judge for the town of South Kingstown from 1971 to 1973, member of the South Kingstown Town Council from 1977 to 1984, council president from 1981 to 1984, and currently is adjunct professor of law at Roger Williams University School of Law. Judge Indeglia lives in South Kingstown with his wife, Elizabeth and two grown daughters.
Judge approves two Harvard Pilgrim building sales
PROVIDENCE – The sale of two buildings owned by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England has been approved by Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein. The sale for the two buildings totals $3.5 million and eventually will be added to the sum available for the repayment of the defunct (in Rhode Island) health care management organization. Harvard Pilgrim owes millions of dollars to hospitals, doctors and various other providers. The sales were approved to bidders recommended by Thomas Shumpert, Rhode Island insurance commissioner. Involved is a building at 1 Commerce Way, Lincoln. That building on 4.9 acres was sold to Blackstone Centre Medical Building Associates for $1.925 million The other former Harvard Pilgrim medical center sold is at 440 Swansea Mall Drive in Massachusetts, located on 6.6 acres. It was sold for $1.61 million to AMS Office Park, Inc. of Swansea. Creditors must file claims with the court for repayment of any outstanding debts. Sale of a third site, adjacent to the Warwick Mall has been postponed because of a complaint by Aram G. Garabedian, co-managing partner, that the bidding process had not been open enough. A second bidding process is scheduled to be considered at a court hearing March 1 before Judge Silverstein.
Delinquent tax filers warned by IRS
PROVIDENCE – Failure to file their 1996 tax returns could cost about 5,100 Rhode Island taxpayers an estimated $5.3 million in refunds if they don’t file by April 15 of this year, the Internal Revenue Service announced. An IRS spokeswoman said those people who didn’t file because they owed no taxes were mistaken if they thought they would get a refund anyway. There is a three-year limit after the filing deadline for recovery of refunds due. There is no penalty for filing a late return that qualifies for a refund.
