NORWAY — A state official said towns affected by the loss of $3.5 million in community block grants may know as early as Friday whether they will recover any of the money.

Meanwhile, the Norway town manager says the town will proceed with the Opera House renovation project by issuing a bond anticipation note to replace the loss of a $400,000 matching grant.

Doug Ray, spokesman for the Department of Economic and Community Development, said Wednesday afternoon that Commissioner George Gervais and other state officials are now looking at other funding sources for the 11 communities including Norway and Livermore Falls, which were affected by Gov. Paul LePage’s freeze on the grant money last month.

“He’s (Gervais) exploring other options for getting the program funding that are fiscally responsible,” Ray said. He would not identify what those sources are or how much of the $3.5 million, if any, might become available to the affected towns.

Ray said the review will include looking at each town’s project on a case-by-case basis and determining what stage they are at, how much money they have spent and so forth.

The money was part of a $25,000,000 bond initiative approved by Maine voters on June 8, 2010. Some $3.5 million of the funds were allocated to the Communities for Maine’s Future program for downtown revitalization. Eleven communities won grant awards for projects that were expected to not only to help revitalize downtown areas but put scores of people to work.

The competitive grant awards provided funding to restore and revitalize key buildings, improve pedestrian access and safety, and act as catalysts for local jobs. The communities that received the funds were Bath, Belfast, Dover-Foxcroft, Eastport, Livermore Falls, Monmouth, Norway, Rockland, Skowhegan, Unity and Winthrop.

“The goal is to try to look at ways to get these projects done without taking on more debt,” Ray said.

Two days before having the funding pulled, Norway had transferred the Norway Opera House deed to the Norway Opera House Corp. The $1.1 million renovation project of the first floor storefronts was about to go out to bid. The loss of the $400,000 matching grant award came as a stunning blow. Scores of officials and residents had worked for the past five years to save the 1894 downtown building. The Opera House Corp. and the Norway Savings Bank were financial partners on the project.

Ray said some of the towns like Norway and Livermore Falls had not drawn on any of the grant money but others like Monmouth, had drawn more than $242,000 in its project to restore a local Grange Hall.

Of the $3.5 million, there remained a balance of $3,052,000 in awards that had not been used at the time the funds were frozen, Ray said.

Norway Town Manager David Holt said that he sees little hope in funding being restored and the town must now take steps on its own to continue the project. He has asked the project architect to proceed with getting the Opera House project out to bid.

In a statement issued this week, Holt said, “As time goes by and not hearing tangible answers from Augusta, I tend to lose hope that the governor’s office will act to correct the problem that has been caused for the 11 communities that have Communities for Maine’s Future projects under way. Therefore, believing that because the governor does not have indefinite authority to unilaterally defy a vote of Maine people, the town will issue a bond anticipation note so that the project can continue and the tax credit funding will not be lost.”

Holt said if the town does not move forward with the project, $130,000 in local match already spent by the town and Norway Opera House Corp. on project development fees and all preparatory funds spent by Norway Savings Bank will “be wasted.”

“Norway will act with the other communities to pursue whatever remedies we must to overturn the stoppage of these projects under way across the state,” Holt said. “If Augusta decides to help, we will not lose the summer construction season, and if not, at least the project that we have worked to develop for years is not lost.”

In the town of Livermore Falls, which also lost its $400,000 matching grant award to redevelop the Lamb Block on Depot Street, Town Manager Kristal A. Flagg said she hopes to hear more about the money later this week and will update selectmen on this issue at their board meeting Monday night.

Andrea Burns, president of Norway Downtown, said Wednesday afternoon that hundreds of jobs were being affected by the governor’s decision to freeze the money.

“The governor has turned his back on that community effort,” Burns said. “The town of Norway overwhelmingly expressed their desire to save the Norway Opera House. (The governor) has not recognized that and really reversed the decision of Maine voters who supported (the bond issue.) It smacks of someone not understanding the citizenry.”

There was no comment from the governor’s office Wednesday.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link