RUMFORD – Selectmen unanimously granted Black Mountain of Maine a tax abatement Thursday night that ski area representatives said will put them in the black.

The decision to forgive the 2005-2006 personal property and real estate taxes totaling about $42,000 comes a week after the assessors unanimously granted the small, family-oriented ski area tax-exempt status. That exemption goes into effect during tax year 2007-2008.

James Katsiaficas, attorney for Maine Winter Sports Center, the nonprofit that owns Black Mountain of Maine, said the abatement, and a second abatement that will be requested in September, will help get the mountain back on solid footing.

In return for tax-exempt status, MWSC agreed to grant the mountain about $24,000 annually to go toward capital projects.

MWSC, with the funding from the Libra Foundation, has spent $3.5 million in improvements for Black Mountain, said Katsiaficas.

Those capital projects could be such things as construction of a larger pond used for snow-making or purchase of larger snow-making guns, said Katsiaficas.

Black Mountain will continue to pay about $1,200 in property taxes annually for the portion of the lodge that houses a bar, and about $191 a year for a small section of the top of the mountain where a tower is located.

Maine Winter Sports and Black Mountain representatives will return to selectmen in September to ask for an abatement of the 2006-2007 real estate and personal property taxes, totaling about $37,000, said Katsiaficas.

Then during the following tax year, and for a minimum of 10 years to follow, property and real estate taxes will not be assessed.

In other matters on Thursday, the board:

• donated $200 to a group of Mountain Valley High School students and chaperons who are traveling to Louisiana as part of Habitat for Humanity to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

• lifted the off-street winter parking ban effective April 15.

• granted a victualer’s license to Erin Webber, who is opening a new restaurant called the Route 2 Diner in the location of the former Dino’s in Rumford Center.

• approved placement of 13 so-called Betsy Ross flags at Veterans Memorial Park and the rotary during the Moontide Water Festival in July.