FRYEBURG — Advanced precision-technologies manufacturer Hunting Dearborn plans to expand its Maine facility, creating up to 60 jobs over the next five years. 

In a news release last week, company officials said the move was to meet increased demand for its products. It sells to markets in the U.S. and overseas.

In the release, Robert Newton, the company’s chief financial officer, said the company’s plan to expand its Fryeburg facility could begin later this month.

Expansion of the company’s workforce is helped in part by a credit incentive package offered through the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, which will have the cumulative effect of reducing taxes.

According to DECD spokesperson Doug Ray, Hunting Dearborn is eligible for the state’s Pine Tree Development Zone and employment tax-increment financing programs, which will result in the company being refunded up to 80 percent of withheld taxes, contingent upon it creating “new, quality jobs.” 

“This is Maine’s way of being competitive, and having a competitive structure that keeps good businesses here and attracting new investment,” Ray said. 

Messages left with Hunting Dearborn executives were not returned. 

According to the company’s website, the Fryeburg-based business manufactures deep-hole drilling for components for the oil industry, high-precision machining of turbine engines, structural parts for various aerospace projects and reactor core components for the nuclear industry, among other products.

Over 300 Maine businesses have received tax breaks since the program was launched in the early 2000s, but not every business is eligible, Ray said.

Mostly technology-dependent, skilled-labor jobs in biotechnology, environmental technology, advanced forestry and agriculture technology fields can apply. 

Companies must also meet several wage benchmarks to be considered. Overall, the wage and benefits package from each new job must be above the county minimum. In Oxford Hills, that equates to the creation of at least five positions valued above $33,117 over the next two years.

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