RUMFORD – Selectmen on Thursday took a tentative step toward joining with area towns to have the region designated a Pine Tree Zone.
The zone offers tax credits to businesses located there. The state has designated four zones so far.
Board Chairman James Thibodeau said he agreed to look into what it takes to become a Pine Tree Zone, but he wasn’t ready to support it.
“Why do we have to have zones to qualify for tax credits?” he asked River Valley Growth Council Economic Developer Scott Christiansen, representative of the organization that is trying to get several towns involved in the endeavor.
Thibodeau said he disagrees with the idea of regionalization, which is part of the state theory for the establishment of Pine Tree Zones.
“If the state has breaks, why zones? It’s a spinoff of the governor’s regionalism. It’s just another means of organizing our little towns as a region,” he said.
The region, through the growth council, is looking into two possible ways to become part of a Pine Tree Zone. One would be to join with the Androscoggin Valley region, which is a Pine Tree Zone. It covers a large area so few of the potential sites in the River Valley would receive tax benefits. The second would be to join with nearby towns to form a separate zone.
Selectmen named Town Manager Robert Welch as the contact person for the town as the council works its way through the application process.The deadline for paperwork is December.
The Rumford industrial park would be part of the zone.
“That could be used as a mechanism for growth,” he said. “There would be no local taxes lost.”
Up to 20 sites could be designated as part of any Pine Tree Zone, added Christiansen.
Only those areas of the state that have experienced job losses and the resulting high unemployment are eligible to become Pine Tree zones. Businesses eligible to move into a zone are those that deal with financial matters, technology and manufacturing.
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