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Residents approve CDBG for Barclays, firm employed to develop TIF

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The Wilton Selectboard and residents discuss a grant proposal Tuesday evening.
The Wilton Selectboard and residents discuss a grant proposal Tuesday evening.

WILTON – Approximately a dozen residents and five selectmen supported having the town apply for a state-awarded grant for the Barclaycard customer contact center at a special town meeting Tuesday evening. Later, the Selectboard chose one of three proposals to create a Tax Increment Financing district for the town.

The vote potentially provides the company access to as much as $700,000 in federal funding, distributed through the Department of Economic & Community Development’s Community Development Block Grant program. Under the category of Economic Development, funds can be provided to allow companies to make infrastructural or facility improvements. Each $30,000 in grant funding must create at least one job, with more than half of the total number of jobs created going toward people in the low-to-moderate income bracket.

The town would administer the grant; completing paperwork, furnishing DECD with invoices and proof of payment and ensuring the company met standards. Contracts would likely need to be signed, Town Manager Rhonda Irish said, between the town and state and Barclays. The town could contract out some of the administrative work to a credentialed agency that specializes in it, such as the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments.

Wilton and Barclays, located in the Western Maine Development LLC’s Business & Technology Center on the Weld Road, applied previously to the DECD and was told that no funds remained for the current fiscal year. Then, three weeks ago, the town received a letter that indicated that $700,000 was still available.

Barclays center director Jen McEntee said that the funds would augment the company’s own funding, which exceeds $700,000, for a series of improvements to its facility. These improvements include safety and Americans with Disability Act upgrades, additional workspace, technological improvements including the installation of a new generator and upgrading the parking lot. McEntee noted that Barclays had come to Wilton in 2008 with a staff of 40 and had since expanded to nearly 300. If the full $700,000 was awarded the company would be mandated to create 24 jobs, but McEntee said that Barclays was looking to expand beyond that point.

“We’ve really come to love Wilton,” McEntee said in a public hearing that preceded the special town meeting. “We’ve made the choice that Wilton’s where we want to be.”

Selectman Tom Saviello thanked McEntee and Barclays for their commitment to the town and their work in the community. The grant program, he said, was one of the few economic development tools available through the state, and Wilton should take advantage of it.

Resident William Rice questioned the use of national taxpayer funds to improve a private business. Wilton residents needed to understand that they were responsible for repaying the funds if Barclays moved out of town. “The people of Wilton need to know that this is a bond,” Rice said.

McEntee said that Barclays had been in town for six years and intended to stay. Gil Reed, one of the three owners of the Business & Technology Center, said that the company had signed a five-year lease, with another 15 years worth of possible extensions. Additional interest was being generated by other businesses, Reed said, due to Barclays’ long-term commitment.

“I think this is one of the lowest-risk things we can do to create jobs in Wilton,” Selectman Tiffany Maiuri said.

Irish said that the town’s liability for the grant ended once each new employee had been hired and verified as meeting the grant’s requirements.

Upon concluding the public hearing, Board Chair D. Scott Taylor turned the special town meeting over to moderator Saviello. Those assembled approved the single article, which supported the submission of Barclays application to the DECD, with no further discussion and a unanimous, verbal vote.

During the regular selectboard meeting, the board approved the hiring of John Holden of jphCED Consulting to develop a TIF and Credit Enhancement Agreement between the town and the Western Maine Development LLC. Holden was selected over two other bids for his willingness to do both agreements for $9,750. The town may need to have an attorney review the CEA, Irish noted.

A Tax Increment Financing district shelters new property valuation for the purposes of revenue sharing, school district funding and county taxes. The local assessment on the new valuation is captured for the TIF district’s accompanying development program. That development program could hold funds for economic-related improvements or return a percentage of the money to the property owner or business in the form of a Credit Enhancement Agreement.

Funds from a preexisting TIF, related to Comfort Inn, could fund the creation of the new TIF.

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3 Comments

  1. Barclays site director is Jen McEntee, not McIntyre. With that said, Barclays is a wonderful company for Wilton. They offer decent pay, tremendous benefits, an outstanding 401k match, an enjoyable work environment, and opportunity for advancement. So glad to hear this was passed!

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