Rumford Town Manager Linda-Jean Briggs

RUMFORD — Two areas in Rumford will be included in a new federal program aimed at encouraging private investment.

“What a huge opportunity,” Town Manager Linda-Jean Briggs said.

The federal Opportunity Zones program, created by the Republican tax bill passed last year, gives investors a tax incentive for using capital gains from other investments toward developments in the designated areas.

Gov. Paul LePage has selected 25 percent of Maine’s eligible low-income census tracts to be designated Opportunity Zones, based “primarily on identified investment opportunities where such investments would likely be met with success.”

Of 32 census tracts announced for the state, Briggs said Rumford is the only community with two. Both are eligible under the low-to-moderate income category that would have declared them potential opportunity zones.

One tract is the urban side of Rumford, part of the town’s target area for a $990,000 Community Development Block Grant. This also includes the mill, which is in the process of being sold to Nine Dragons Paper of Hong Kong.

The second tract is from the top of Falls Hill on Route 2 to Route 232, and over into South Rumford, an area Briggs described as “pretty underdeveloped.”

Briggs discussed how businesses can benefit by the opportunity zones.

“People who are sitting on investments because of capital gains tax can now, in those declared zones, can now free those up if they want to do expansion, renovation, whatever,” Briggs said. “Once again, those capital gains will not be taxed.”

She said they have little information coming out from the state about the program, for which there are very few regulations for at this time.

“I would say if there are folks who interested in capitalizing on this, that they make themselves known quickly,” Briggs said. “I think that as time goes on, the program could very well become more strict and more regulated.

“Anybody who wants to locate a bottling plant here now has an opportunity to do so, if they want to free up some capital gains. Or a manufacturing plant (or) any type of development, we have the space for it.”

Briggs said Mia Purcell of Community Concepts Finance Corp., who suggested the program to the town, told her, “People are watching Rumford.”

Briggs agreed, adding: “And I think investors are watching Rumford. I welcome that.”

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