FARMINGTON — Commissioners will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed fourth amendment to the county’s 2008 tax-increment financing agreement related to the 44-turbine Kibby wind energy facility.
The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in the courtroom of the Franklin County courthouse.
One part would address language for noncommercial entities in connection to broadband and the other would be related to more than one communications study.
The TIF agreement was with TransCanada, then owner of the project on Kibby Ridge in Kibby and Skinner townships in northern Franklin County. Helix Generation LLC now owns the energy facility.
The agreement is designated to support economic development in parts of the unorganized territory. It was amended in 2011. A proposed second amendment in 2016 was withdrawn after the commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development did not approve it. The third amendment was approved in 2018.
In June 2019, the Legislature approved a change to the county’s TIF program regarding using funds for costs associated with broadband and fiber optic expansion projects. The change included allowing the costs for preparation, planning, engineering and other related expenses in addition to the construction expenses of those projects, county Clerk Julie Magoon said earlier this month.
The language now needs to be added to the TIF program document.
The proposed two-part amendment to the Enterprise TIF Financing District and Development Program would revise the list of projects on which funding can be spent. In the section regarding investments made necessary by or directly related to the district, the words “one time costs” would be eliminated from the study of county emergency communications capacity and strategic plan for improvements, prorated to exclude costs outside the unorganized territory.
The second part of the amendment would change wording related to broadband and high speed internet and allow for capital infrastructure costs to “be paid for with TIF revenues in areas identified as unserved with respect to broadband service, as identified by the ConnectME Authority.”
People can listen in and ask questions by calling 207-560-0523 and adding participant code 196616 when requested. Mt. Blue Community Access TV will also livestream the hearing with closed captioning at www.mtbluetv.org/.
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