CRANSTON – The R.I. Department of Labor and Training has raised the unemployment insurance tax rate in 2006 for new employers – those not covered for three full years as of last Sept. 30 – to 2.34 percent from 2.04 percent.
All other employers will pay taxes based on the same schedule as in 2005, with rates ranging from 1.69 percent to 9.79 percent of wages, depending on each employer’s layoff experience. Employers will be notified of their individual 2006 rates by the end of December, officials said.
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All taxable employers are also subject to a “job development assessment” of 0.21 percent.
The wage base for employment security taxes in 2006 will remain at $16,000, but the temporary disability insurance (TDI) taxable wage base will rise from $49,000 to $50,600. The employee contribution rate for TDI will remain at 1.4 percent in 2006.
Transportation group forced to repay $1.7M
BOSTON – The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transportation Authority (GATRA) has agreed to pay $1,694,373 to the Massachusetts Medicaid Program to make up for improper billing practices that led it to be paid for canceled trips, Attorney General Tom Reilly said.
The settlement includes full restitution of $1,617,159, plus $72,214 in interest and $5,000 in investigative costs, Reilly said. In addition, GATRA is required to implement a billing compliance program with additional training and monitoring activities.
GATRA contracts with the state to transport Medicaid members to their medical appointments by taxi and wheelchair-accessible vehicles. In 1999 and 2000, GATRA bought new software to manage its scheduling and dispatching system, Reilly said, and during implementation of the new program, GATRA processed any “canceled” trips as “completed” and submitted bills for payment of services that had not been rendered.
GATRA notified the state of the error, and Reilly’s office conducted an investigative audit. GATRA initially claimed that it had been underpaid $482,815 due to another software error, but that amount was reduced to $197,504 after the audit.
Harriet Bradford Inn auctioned for $825,000
BRISTOL – A New York company that had been working with a local developer to turn the former Harriet Bradford Inn into luxury condominiums bought the hotel and surrounding properties for $825,000, plus existing encumbrances, at a public auction on Nov. 23.
But that will not end the legal wrangling over the property, which has been vacant for years but, as recently as this spring was set to be renovated by a partnership including local developer Ted Barrows and New York-based Center Development.
That partnership broke down earlier this year, according to Center Development lawyer John Rego, and Belvedere Development, Barrows’ company, defaulted on its mortgages. After trying in vain to have the property placed in receivership in state Superior Court, the company was forced to sell the hotel at auction.
Center Development bought the hotel for $800,000, said Rego, as well as two lots for $25,000, although the lots are encumbered by two mortgages and a right of first refusal held by local businessman Joseph Brito.
The following business day, however, Belvedere filed for bankruptcy in federal court, and the legal battle continued there last week, Rego said.
Dunkin’ franchises seek representation in sale
PROVIDENCE – Dunkin’ Donuts Independent Franchise Owners, a 16-year-old group that promotes franchise owners’ interests in the Dunkin’ Donuts system, has retained Riparian Partners to represent franchisees as an interested party in the sale of Dunkin’ Brands.
Pernod Ricard acquired Dunkin’ Brands’ parent company, Allied Domecq, in July of this year, and has hired investment banking firm JP Morgan to sell off the Dunkin’ Brands group, which includes the doughnut chain as well as Baskin Robbins and Togo’s.
Riparian, an investment banking firm based in Providence, has been advising the franchise owners’ group since August 2004. The franchisees have about $5 billion invested in their roughly 4,500 units and in franchisee-owned distribution systems, Riparian said.
URI gets $1M for biotech, agricultural programs
KINGSTON – The University of Rhode Island’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences is getting more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for research and outreach programs in biotechnology, Lyme disease prevention and agricultural “literacy.”
URI’s Biotechnology Research Initiative was awarded $643,000 to buy lab equipment for the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, a $50-million facility approved by voters in a bond referendum last year to be built soon on the Kingston campus.
Another $150,000 will go to a new URI office that is coordinating community outreach on tick and tick-borne disease and developing an Internet-based tick information system. In addition, $295,000 will support the Rhode Island Children’s Garden Network, a collaboration with the Rhode Island Center for Agricultural Promotion and Education to educate schoolchildren about agriculture through food and plant growing projects and other learning opportunities.
Groundbreaking held for $73M training school
CRANSTON – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri on Wednesday, Nov. 30, kicked off a $73-million project to build a new Rhode Island Training School for Youth at the Pastore Complex, the cluster of government offices in Cranston. The current 1960 juvenile facility will be replaced with a 52-bed Youth Assessment Facility for juvenile offenders awaiting adjudication in the courts, and a 96-bed Youth Development Facility for youths who are serving sentences.
Several vacant state offices are being demolished to make room for the new training school. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2007.
Carcieri said the new facility has been planned following “best practices” nationwide and state-of-the-art technology. “We must create an atmosphere where youth receive the support and guidance they need to become more productive adults,” he said.
