LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen received an update Monday on a meeting with consultant firm representatives who are going to help the town develop a tax-increment financing proposal.
Town Manager Kristal Flagg said she met with representatives of Community Dynamics Corp. of Auburn, which is owned by John Cleveland. They discussed thoughts and ideas on where a TIF district could be located in order to produce economic development.
In October, selectmen approved spending up to $10,900 for the firm’s assistance in putting together a package and application for a TIF. Voters approved the money to come out of surplus earlier this year.
Flagg showed Cleveland where the biomass plant is located on Diamond Road. The town, Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and the biomass plant own property in the area.
They also discussed the former TIF with Wausau Paper Corp. mill, which is now the Otis Falls Mill, she said. The paper mill closed in 2009. Otis Ventures LLC owns the mill and is in the process of developing it. The mill complex straddles the Livermore Falls and Jay line.
She also gave a run down on the town’s acreage, Central Maine Power’s substation and more, she said.
Selectmen are looking into capturing some of the new tax dollars from CMP’s $17 million upgrade to its substation on Moose Hill Road. CMP has not requested a TIF and will not benefit from it, she said. Only the town will benefit, she said.
This TIF would not be like the one that the town had with Wausau, Flagg said. The mill had benefited from that plan, but not the town.
A town can take advantage of an already-planned and financed project and create a TIF district or more districts around it, capturing a portion of new property-tax revenue for specific uses based on economic development. The town’s option on a tax-incentive financing program would be connected only to the new valuation and new taxes that valuation would bring in. Taxes would continue to be assessed on property that previously existed.
Cleveland is willing to hear any ideas town officials have and will put together some scenarios on the possibilities.
Once they get everything together, they will come to a meeting to update selectmen, Flagg said.
The scenarios could encompass education, economic development, transportation, training, maintenance and low-interest loans, among other topics, she said. There are different tiers that can be formed.
A TIF can exist for up to 30 years. It is a way to get funds needed to get projects done, Flagg said.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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