A crew from Jordan Excavation in Kingfield digs a foundation hole for the $4.4 million Franklin County Emergency Operations Center on County Way in Farmington in June. The site is diagonally across from the County Detention Center and adjacent to the County Regional Communications Center. Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal
FARMINGTON – Franklin County Commissioners on Aug. 6 approved the county’s request for a $700,000 tax increment grant for the new emergency operations center being built on County Way.
There is an estimated $4.1 million in the county’s TIF funding account, and an additional $700,000 is expected to be added to the account in October, according to County Administrator Amy Bernard.
The county is trying to build the new operations center without asking taxpayers for money. The 30-year TIF expires in 2039.
TIF funds are to be used for economic development purposes of the unorganized territory and may be used pro rata if deployed countywide. The county entered into an Enterprise Tax-Increment Finance and Development Program agreement with TransCanada Maine Wind Development in 2008 when it owned a 44-turbine wind energy facility in Kibby and Skinner townships. TransCanada sold the wind energy project to Helix Maine Wind Development in 2017.
The commission approved three more TIF grant applications Tuesday that included recommendations from Tax-Increment Finance’s Grant Advisory Committee. Of those, $19,480 was approved for a total project of $38,260 for the United Methodist Economic Ministry of Salem Township to upgrade the home’s warming stations so they are open more days a week. The application was dated May 29.
They also approved $125,000 of the project’s total cost of $193,474 in a 2-1 vote for Greater Franklin Economic and Community Development, submitted by the Greater Franklin Development Council in Farmington. The organization is “charged with creating an ecosystem that enables economic and community vitality,” according to Executive Director Charlie Woodworth. The grant application was dated July 23. Commission Chairman Lance Harvell of Farmington and Commissioner Bob Carlton of Freeman Township approved the vote, while Commissioner Terry Brann of Wilton dissented.
The commission also approved a request from the Flagstaff Area Business Association in the Carrabassett Valley for $15,700 for a marketing campaign for the Northwestern Mountains region of Maine. The total cost of the project, according to the request, is $25,000. The request was dated July 24.
The county’s request for the $700,000 for a $4.4 million project was submitted in mid-May with a cover letter dated May 13 and did not receive a recommendation from the committee. Woodworth said an administrator on the TIF committee, a five-member volunteer panel, did not have a chance to review the request in detail. The committee meets only at certain times of the year.
The committee wants all applicants to go through the same review process, Woodworth said. They weren’t aware that there was a timeline for the county’s application, which required the commission to approve the project at the Aug. 6 meeting, he wrote in an email. The committee wasn’t against the application. They just didn’t take the time to fully review it.
Bernard said during the August 6 meeting that all answers to the questions received from the committee on August 2 were included in the grant application, including the corresponding funds.
The county received $2 million from Congress earlier this year and will use about $1.67 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to fund the $4.4 million project. Commissioners requested a $700,000 grant from the county’s tax increment program to help fund space for administrative staff, including the unorganized territory manager.
Groundbreaking took place in June for the building, which will house Franklin County’s administrative offices, the Sheriff’s Office, the IT department and the Emergency Management Agency. A large conference room will also be included. It will be located diagonally across from the jail and next to the Regional Communications Center.
The TIF funds will create a new, safe and accessible building, which is needed for several reasons including but not limited to: training and development, privacy, larger gathering capacity, storage and community service, Bernard said. It will also provide space for most county employees to be in one central location, she wrote.
“This space will also enable county employees to better serve the community and work more efficiently,” she wrote.
Copy the story link
