EUSTIS – In a town with a population of less than 1,000, 25 new jobs represents a lot of opportunity. Stratton Lumber Inc. is providing just such growth in the little northwestern Maine town of Eustis.
Purchased by the Fontaine Group from the Brochu family in 2004, the wood mill is not only growing jobs but also expects to increase log procurement, byproducts and lumber sales by 50 percent in the next year, according to a written statement from the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development.
The development department’s statement said the company’s growth was made possible through tax increment financing, which provides limited-term tax reimbursements to expanding corporations.
Townspeople voted in 2003 to give the company a 20-year TIF of $3 million, providing a tax break of almost 70 percent on the company’s additional annual personal property taxes.
Eustis Tax Collector Kathy Fearon said Tuesday that the lumber company’s 2005 tax bill is $148,587. That’s about 10 percent of the town’s total tax revenue of about $1.5 million, according to Sandra Scribner, the town’s tax assessor.
In the last four years, the company invested more than $6.5 million in new plant equipment and infrastructure upgrades, including a $3.5 million planer mill expansion completed last year. The new planer is more automated and will allow for three times the plant’s former capacity, mill general manager Stuart Miller said Tuesday.
According to Miller, the 25 new positions expand the company’s payroll by 50 percent and has enabled it to extend production hours from five days a week to seven.
“The expansion was done with a great deal of planning and forethought,” Miller said. The company is looking not only to increase its own output but to entice other timber companies to use their services.
And more jobs at the plant also means more jobs in trucking and more business in town for restaurants and other local establishments, Sarah Doscinski of the development department pointed out Tuesday.
In a written statement, Gov. John Baldacci said, “Stratton Lumber’s success is proof positive that Maine’s forestry industry can evolve to successfully compete in the global marketplace. Stratton’s capital improvements are an excellent example of how traditional skills can be melded with high technology to develop better, more efficient manufacturing practices. This type of progressive thinking is the key to the continued success of our manufacturing sectors.”
Workers at the plant come mostly from the Route 27 corridor, Miller said. Pay for mill workers ranges from $12.50 to $16 hourly and, though many have never done this type of work before, they are eager and willing to learn, he said.
“They have good attitudes,” Miller said. “We’re very pleased with the success so far.”
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