LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen on Monday received an overview of the possibilities of establishing a tax-increment financing district to capture some of the new value of CMP’s $17 million substation upgrade.
The type of TIF the town is considering would not benefit Central Maine Power Co. The TIF proposal is still being developed.
“We’re on a fairly tight schedule,” consultant John Cleveland, president of Community Dynamics Corp., said.
An informational meeting on the development of a tax-increment financing district application will be held on January 13, 2014. It will be followed by a public hearing on Jan. 21. An open-style special town meeting vote will follow, tentatively set for Feb. 10.
The application needs to be submitted to the state by Feb. 28, John Cleveland, president of Community Dynamics Corp. of Auburn, told selectmen Monday during a workshop.
“We need to get the TIF approved by the state by March 31” to capture some of the new assessed value of the substation upgrade, Cleveland said.
Tax-increment financing is an economic development tool used by municipalities to capture new real and personal property value, shelter the new tax revenue from the state’s calculation of general purpose aid for education and revenue-sharing and the county tax, and use the revenues locally to support the development of programs and infrastructure to assist and grow commercial enterprise, according to Cleveland.
Several Maine communities have captured value added by electrical substations through TIF districts in the past, he said.
If nothing is done to capture some of the new value, the town’s valuation will increase significantly and the town won’t get as much money from the state for education and state revenue-sharing, he said. Taxpayers would also have to pay more money to the county due to the increased valuation, he said.
There are benefits to the community if a TIF is developed, he said.
There are three tiers of programs that the town could consider.
Some areas have been identified as having potential for future development and/or may require infrastructure investment in the near term.
They are the Otis Mill property; downtown corridor from the Jay town line to Depot/Park streets intersection, including properties along Park Street/Route 133 south to the Bowen Brothers building; wastewater treatment facility; PalletOne/Isaacson Lumber yard facility, properties near the ReEnergy Biomass facility, a potential site for a business park; and the new CMP substation footprint (capture new tax assessed value only.)
The total acreage of the proposed TIF district may not exceed 2 percent of the town’s total acreage and the total valuation may not exceed 5 percent of the town’s total valuation, according to Cleveland’s information.
Suggested development program components include costs associated with development of a business park on Diamond Road and wastewater treatment upgrades.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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- Livermore Falls selectmen, from left, Laurie Sanborn, Louise Chabot and Jim Collins with Town Manager Kristal Flagg listen to Nate Libby and John Cleveland, representatives of Community Dynamics Corp. of Auburn, explain possibilities of what tax-increment financing district would do for the town as Alison Hagerstrom, executive director of Greater Franklin Development Corp., listens.
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