FARMINGTON – Commissioners discussed the county’s tax increment financing district, the revolving loan fund and supporting U.T. businesses at Tuesday’s meeting.
The discussions related to the use of tax increment finance funds collected from the Kibby wind power project. That money can be used by the commissioners to fund economic development and other improvements. In recent weeks, the commissioners and the TIF Advisory Committee – an advisory board made up of U.T. residents – have been discussing the support of businesses, rather than nonprofits. Such support is allowable under the TIF guidelines, although county support has mostly been constrained to nonprofits for trail development, tourism-related advertising and other activities.
Tea Pond Lodge & Cabins’ owner Sandra Lamontagne has applied for funding to go toward a $120,000 project that would install an open air pavilion. That would provide a venue for weddings, concerts and other community events, Lamontagne told commissioners, noting she had three brides already lined up. The pavilion would end the practice of clearing out the restaurant during big events, and enable the hiring of servers, potentially another cook and an events planner.
The TIF Committee recommended that the commissioners support the Tea Pond Lodge request with $50,000 in grant funding and $70,000 through the loan program.
“We said this is exactly what the TIF was for,” TIF committee member Bob Carlton said Tuesday.
Commissioners have discussed getting more use out of the county’s revolving loan fund, a pool of money available to businesses that is supported by the TIF but has seen little use. One idea to increase the interest in the loan fund would be to tie it to the grants, with funding requests receiving a percentage of its funding in the form of a grant. The exact percentage was debated, ranging from 25 to 50 percent, as was what interest rate should be charged on the loan fund.
Greater Franklin Development Council Executive Director Charlie Woodworth suggested that he, County Clerk Julie Magoon and the committee work to develop some potential guidelines for the commissioners’ consideration. GFDC works with the county and the committee for TIF-related matters. Commissioners agreed to meet on Oct. 30 to review the guidelines.
Commissioners did approve funding for two other nonprofit projects. While TIF committee members supported funding the Flagstaff Area Business Association, members varied on the level of support, from $20,000 to $46,000. Commissioners opted to support FABA at $40,000 – a little above last year’s $37,500 amount. Those funds are used to put out a booklet that is distributed across New England, run the organization’s website and pay for ads. Commissioner Charlie Webster said that he would support the request, but wanted to see information regarding the organization’s effectiveness prior to next year’s request.
Longfellow Mountain Heritage Trails’ request of $41,000 was supported by the committee, with Magoon saying that she was waiting on a final report from the organization regarding a previous project prior to issuing new funding.
Throw some of that money toward the Sheriffs Department. They could use it and it would definitely help the UTs.