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County mil rate set, TIF funding approved, committee’s bylaws to be amended

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 The committee is made up of two police chiefs, Heidi Wilcox of Wilton and Jack Peck of Farmington, a Sheriff's Office representative, the county's Emergency Management Agency director Tim Hardy, Fire chiefs Hastings, Terry Bell of Farmington and Tim Pellerin of Rangeley and representative Lee Ireland for NorthStar EMS ambulance.
The county’s Dispatch Advisory Committee members, from left to right: the county’s Emergency Management Agency Director Tim Hardy, Farmington Fire Chief Terry Bell, Lee Ireland of NorthStar EMS ambulance, Communication Center Director Stanley Wheeler, Wilton Police Chief Heidi Wilcox and Farmington Police Chief Jack Peck of Farmington. Chesterville Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV, is just out of view at left.

FARMINGTON – County commissioners set the fiscal year 2016-17 tax rate at last year’s rate of $1.17 per $1,000 worth of property at their meeting on Monday.

After the Budget Advisory Committee took its final action on Thursday, the 2016-17 fiscal year county budget totaled $4,214,984, with a jail budget of $1,891,048. The combined, $6.1 million budget shows about a $300,000 increase over the current fiscal year. The bulk of the increase, $270,000, is represented in a jail budget that had previously been frozen at $1.62 million since the facility closed as a full-time jail back in 2009.

The unchanged county mil rate allows for a $25,943 overlay, which if not utilized, will go back into the county’s surplus fund account. After revenues are factored in the county’s assessed total is $5,273,221.

In other matters, commissioners approved Kibby wind project tax increment financing funds totaling $50,000 go to applicant Longfellow Mountains Heritage Trail development. The project, headed up by Larry Warren, is nearly matching the total TIF grant. The county’s TIF advisory committee made the recommendation.

The project underway this summer is developing hiking trails from Kingfield to Coburn Gore at the Canadian border that will tie into the existing  Maine Huts & Trails and Appalachian Trail systems. Trail development through Chain of Ponds Township has gotten underway. According to the project description, the developed trail will be located near the route led by the army of Benedict Arnold on his ill-fated attack against the British forces in Quebec City in 1775. The historical events will be commemorated with interpretive panels along the trail and serve “people-powered” activities including hiking, biking, paddling and cross-country skiing.

Funds for the development of the trail have been provided by the Maine Community Foundation, the Hugh & Elizabeth Montgomery Foundation, the Davis Conservation Foundation, the Town of Carrabassett Valley and the Franklin County Kibby TIF Fund.

Another applicant for the county’s TIF funding, Orcutt Photography of Kingfield will be asked to resubmit their project after amendments to the TIF guidelines are completed. Orcutt proposed producing a “coffee table” book of photographs of the unorganized territories in Franklin County as a marketing tool for tourism.

The scholarship awards to students was put on hold after the interpretation of the statute was perceived as more narrow in its scope of who may qualify for the award than previously thought. The sticking point came with the requirement that after completing his or her degree, the  awarded student would need to find employment in the UT, rather than somewhere in Franklin County.

Alison Hagerstrom, executive director of Greater Franklin Development Council who chairs the TIF advisory committee, said that scholarships won’t be paid out until the matter is settled. The state statute would need to change to the county as a job site instead of the UT, in order for more students to qualify under the law. Putting the TIF scholarship on hold impacts the two most recent candidates.

“The whole thing needs clarification,” Hagerstrom said.

In other matters needing clarification, members of the county’s dispatch advisory committee made up of representatives from area fire departments, law enforcement, ambulance personnel, the emergency management agency and the Communication Center’s Director Stanley Wheeler, sought to further define its role when it comes to decisions regarding the county’s communications center.

Although the advisory board doesn’t have the authority to make final decisions, it serves as a panel of expert advisors when it comes to emergency communications, noted Commissioner Gary McGrane.

The discussion was brought up at Monday’s meeting after there was disagreement between the board and the center’s director on a budgetary matter. While center director Wheeler decided to fund dispatchers’ console’s computer cards, the committee thought that purchase could have been put off for a few more years.

All three commissioners said they would be open to listening to discussions between the committee and the center’s director should another disagreement arise.

It was agreed that the committee’s bylaws need to be amended to include clarifying the board’s role in advising the communication center operations. The committee is currently made up of two police chiefs, Heidi Wilcox of Wilton and Jack Peck of Farmington, a Sheriff’s Office representative, the county’s Emergency Management Agency director Tim Hardy, Fire chiefs Edward Hastings IV of Chesterville, Terry Bell of Farmington and Tim Pellerin of Rangeley and representative Lee Ireland for NorthStar EMS ambulance.

“There’s room for specificity,” Wheeler said of the need to amend the committee’s bylaws.

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