RANGELEY — Voters on Tuesday will consider designating the Rangeley and Oquossoc villages as a tax increment financing district to continue revitalization and improve growth.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Town Office.
The proposed district encompasses nearly 678 acres. If approved by voters and the state, the 30-year agreement would go into effect July 1.
The agreement is expected to give the town options to continue revitalization of the area and improvements for growth in the downtowns. All improvements would be in line with the Rangeley and Oquossoc Downtown Revitalization Action Plan, which the Board of Selectmen adopted in 2019. It identifies action items to preserve historic character, enhance Main Street, improve pedestrian and vehicular access, encourage a sustainable year-round economy, and upgrade parking, utilities, broadband, and cellular services, according to a news release on the town website, townofrangeley.com.
The downtown is a combination of businesses, residential, churches, library, post offices and recreational parks.
The agreement would allow any new value over the original assessed value of about $110 million as of March 31, 2020, captured up to 100%.
The estimated potential new assessed value is about $17 million over the term of the agreement and would allow the town to designate and dedicate tax revenue to identified and authorized projects in the downtown areas.
“We hope to generate more investment in the community,” Darryl Sterling, the town’s TIF economic development consultant, said Thursday. The TIF revenue coming in won’t be much in the first couple of years but would increase as the years go on, he said.
Sterling believes this is a “really good” economic development tool for the town, he said.
The projections based on new value estimated at $17 million would generate a projected average of $216,365 in TIF revenue each year. It breaks down to about $6.5 million for projects over 30 years, according to Alyssa Tibbetts, legal counsel, who spoke during a meeting in a YouTube video on the proposal. Several short videos are shown on the town’s website and its Facebook page that provide information on the program.
If the TIF was in place, it would avoid the loss of about $1.66 million for state aid to education and about $68,269 in state revenue-sharing over the term. It would also avoid an increase in Franklin County taxes of $778,310 over the 30 years, Sterling said. If new value is not captured, then it would mean a loss of about $2.5 million in revenue over the term of the program, Sterling said.
With the TIF, the 30-year total of new estimated tax revenue on the increased valuation is nearly $6.5 million, he said.
There is a potential for improved streetscapes, facades, workforce housing development and new private investments, Sterling said.
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