LIVERMORE FALLS — Town Manager Carrie Castonguay has been tasked with developing a sticker system to identify residents using the Transfer Station and keep nonresidents out.
Selectmen voted at their Nov. 21 meeting to consider a plan to identify those who are allowed access by having them post a sticker on their vehicle.
Referring to nonresidents, Public Works Department Supervisor Bill Nichols said, “They are sneaking in on Saturday,” which is the busiest day for attendants.
He estimated the stickers could save the town $2,000 to $2,500 a year.
Nichols said he checked on the cost of stickers previously and it was $300 for one year. About 50% of residents hire private haulers to bring their trash to the station.
The topic of stickers came up over a year ago but nothing came of it.
In other business, Chairman Jim Long said tax-increment financing money cannot be used to repair the tennis or basketball courts.
The board voted in 2022 to use some of the money to redo the courts but it was never done.
The board had wanted to have one tennis court and to have the second one converted to pickleball courts.
The board believed in 2022 that there was $180,000 for the work, but it turned out to be only $122,000, Long said.
Tax-increment financing funds can only be used for economic development in certain categories. The money could be used for a business park, sewer department upgrade based on commercial users, transit, trail signs, American with Disabilities Act requirements, job skills and more.
Long asked the board to think about what they wanted to do with the funds.
In 2014 voters approved the TIF district that includes the downtown area, the Otis Falls Mill property in Livermore Falls, property along Park Street and property on Diamond Road near the biomass plant.
The TIF was to allow the town to shelter 90% of the new value of Central Maine Power’s $14 million upgrade and capture an estimated $8.59 million in new taxes over 30 years. It was expected then to be an additional $2 million value over the term of the TIF, according to a consultant the town hired to work with town officials to develop the agreement.
The remaining 10% of value is estimated to generate a total of $954,720 in new revenue with a net amount of $374,558 going into the general fund. The figures were based in 2014 on what was known then and the current tax rate of $20.80 per $1,000 of real property value.
The TIF would allow the board the flexibility to capture less than 90% of value but not more once the agreement is accepted. Selectmen would have to opt to fund the TIF each year to get the benefits.
In other business, selectmen decided not to accept a donation of the private Heritage Tennis Club Courts on Heritage Lane. Gary Knight, who had been involved in the courts when they was first built, had approached the town to see if it would be interested in taking them over.
The consensus of the board was that the town has tennis courts that need to be fixed, and at this time they don’t need more to maintain.
The tax bill for the property is about $850 annually, Long said.
Regional School Unit 73 declined to take over the courts, he said.
In other matters, selectmen asked Castonguay to do a cost analysis on the Summer Recreation Program. Livermore Falls typically contributes $12,000 a year plus doing the administrative work. Jay contributes $13,000 for its children to participate, plus each child or family is expected to pay a registration fee.
NOTE: Jay contributes $13,000 to the Livermore Falls Summer Recreation Program. The wrong amount was reported in the initial story. It was a reporter’s error.
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