Financial Mines

Bloomfield-based Kaman Corp. said it has won a contract modification in the amount of $24.2 million for the procurement of joint programmable fuzes. The award is a follow-on order raising the total under Option 8 of Kaman’s contract with the U.S. Air Force  to $76.8 million.

The additional order increases Kaman’s backlog to $149,2 million and should provide work through 2013.

Kaman is the sole provider of  joint programmable fuzes to the USAF and twenty-three other nations. JPS’s allow the settings of a weapon to be programmed on wing in flight and is the current bomb fuze of choice of the USAF. The JPF is used with a number of weapons including general purpose bombs, and guided bombs that use JDAM or Paveway kits, on U.S. aircraft such as F-15, F-16, F-22, A-10, B-1, B-2, B-52 and the MQ-9 UAV as well as on international aircraft such as Mirage 3 and Gripen.

Connecticut Light & Power Co. said Wednesday 192,000 customers will receive credits of $140.22 in their February bill because the company failed to restore their power within a week of a late October storm.

CL&P took a lot of heat for failing to get power restored quickly after an October Nor’ easter ripped through the state before Halloween. After days of being beat up, the company announced its “Mea Culpa” strategy would include crediting customers for the inconvenience and it established a $30 million storm fund.

While 192,000 took advantage, CL&P said as many as 225,000 of its more than 1.1 million customers were eligible for some credit as they did not get power back by noon, Nov. 5 as promised. CL&P’s parent company, Northeast Utilities, also paid out $2 million to charities.

Shares of NU were up almost 1 percent to $35.10 in Wednesday trading.

The UH-60 Black Hawk standing sentinel at the gate of Sikorsky Aircraft has been missing for years, you just didn’t realize it.

That’s what workers and members of the community have been saying about the newly installed helicopter at the gate of the plant on Main Street. The Black Hawk that sits there was assembled from several used UH-60s and contains elements of a helicopter damaged in battle in Colombia, parts from the Presidential fleet and rotors from the U.S. Army.

It is fitting Sikorsky put the Black Hawk on a pedestal as it not only has saved thousands of lives over its more than 30 years of service, but also saved the helicopter maker itself.

Back in the 1960s, Sikorsky was struggling and even had a year in which it did not have a single military contract. Then, the company won the U.S. Army’s utility helicopter contract with the Black Hawk with the first one delivered in 1979.

Sikorsky President Jeff Pino was a new Army aviator at the time and remembers seeing the first ones arrive at base and said it was the most beautiful machine he had ever seen. And he said when he interviewed with Sikorsky a decade ago, he was surprised there was no standing monument to the Black Hawk and swore if he worked at the plant, there would be one someday.

On Wednesday, Pino dedicated the new Black Hawk display.

Another chapter in DebitCard Gate. (Please feel free to suggest a better name.)

The DRS and the State Treasurer are both claiming the debit card will be a great deal and benefit to people and it’s probably true for some, most notably those without bank accounts.

But what percentage of people getting back tax refunds don’t have banks? And what about the rest of the taxpaying public? What do they want?

Were you ever asked if you wanted a debit card tax refund?

What do you think? Do you want this card?

And one more thng.

The state says it can save money by doing this, but the reason there is a refund expense in the first place is because the state is holding tax money it was not owed. If the state really wanted to save money, it would create a tax system in which people only pay exactly what they owe thus elinminating the need to issue refunds. This is the 21st Century, isn’t it.

State Treasurer Denise Nappier said Tuesday her office reviewed nine proposals from banks who wanted to run the state’s new debit card tax refund program.

On Monday, the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services announced people will no longer be issued checks but instead will get refunds loaded onto Chase debit cards.

Chase declined comment when asked how the bank would make money on the deal.

But Nappier said Tuesday, Connecticut is paying Chase a $25,000 fee.

Chase could also gain customers and make fees off the cards if people don’t stick to the rules of using them at Chase or People’s United ATMs. There are other rules related to the use of the cards.

Nappier’s office said Connecticut could save $290,000 in administrative costs and bank fees related to the change to debit cards. The Treasurer noted the state has already realized about $4 million in savings with direct deposit and debit card issued by the Connecticut Department of Labor for unemployment benefit payments.

There is some concern about the debit cards. Some residents do not want the state to have access to their bank accounts and prefer the checks as an easy way to deposit the money into an account, with no fee to the person getting the refund. New York State also went to a debit card option, but residents there can choose to still receive a check.

But Nappier maintains these people, along with residents who don’t have bank accounts, will prefer the debit card.

“Based on our due diligence, overall debit cards are more efficient and a cheaper method of disbursing tax refund payments, and the increased convenience and lower cost of debit cards should also benefit the unbanked and those who have not elected direct deposit,” the Treasurer said in an official release.

In the meantime, State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, is calling for a hearing on the new procedure and said the announcement caught him and other lawmakers by surprise.

With millions of dollars on the line for its members, the Senate has not yet voted on the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act that would prohibit Congressmen and staff from making trades on privileged information.

The Senate is facing a public outcry after news reports revealed members of Congress are not prohibited from trading on information related to laws under debate, or information gleaned from testimony and meetings that would affect the stock prices of publicly traded companies. And the results in Congressional portfolios have been outstanding over the years, prompting concerns that members of the one-time august body have gone to Washington, D.C. to beat the Street.

While constituents have been outraged by this seeming impropriety, the Senate has taken out a key provision of the bill, according to the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.

PC is upset the political intelligence provision of the bill has been removed. It required lobbyists and traders who have connections on Capitol Hill to disclose their clients and trading activity to aid in enforcement.

Critics of the intelligence provision say it would prevent traders in particular from keeping up on legislative activity.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy lauded Hartford-based United Technologies Corp. on Tuesday for spending $1 billion on the education of its employees.

Fifteen years ago, UTC started its Employee Scholar Program in which the company covers tuition, books and fees for employees enrolled at accredited institutions.

According to UTC’s website, more than 32,500 workers have earned degrees through the program. In 2011, the company had 10,000 employees enrolled in colleges and 2,000 earned degrees.

Shares of UTC were up 36 cents to $77.97 in Tuesday morning trading.