RANGELEY — Residents voted 38-21 Tuesday to designate the Rangeley and Oquossoc villages as a tax increment financing district (TIF), Assistant Town Manager Traci Lavoie said Wednesday.
The 30-year agreement that encompasses nearly 678 acres will go into effect July 1.
The pact 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, adopted by the Board of Selectmen 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.
Among the improvements is a potential for improved streetscapes, facades, workforce housing development and new private investments. One goal is to generate more investment in the community.
The agreement would allow any new value over the original assessed value of about $110 million as of March 31, 2020, to be 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.
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.
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, town TIF consultant Darryl Sterling previously said. If new value is not captured, it would mean a loss of about $2.5 million in revenue over the term of the program, he said.
With the TIF, the 30-year total of new estimated tax revenue on the increased valuation is nearly $6.5 million, he said.
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