Franklin County to rework Kibby wind project tax agreement
An amendment to a 2008 tax increment financing agreement between Franklin County and owners of the Kibby wind project that would have brought $16.4 million to the county over 30 years has been withdrawn and is being reworked for re-submission.
The amendment, sent by commissioners last October to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development for review, is being reworked, including adding new targets for the revenue from the TIF, county Clerk Julie Magoon told the Lewiston Sun Journal Thursday. The county expects to have a public hearing on changes by the end of September.
The 44-turbine wind farm is in northern Franklin county, Kibby and Skinner townships, on Kibby Ridge, near the Canada border.
The state last October had reservations about the structure of the amendment, and in June, TransCanada sold all of its Northeast power assets, including the Kibby project, to Helix Generation LLC, an affiliate of LS Power Equity Advisor.
The TIF as originally written in 2008 protected 75% of tax revenue from state valuation, with 40% kept by the county and 60% going to TransCanada for the 20 years of the agreement. The amendment increased the amount of tax revenue protected to 100%, keeping the 60-40 split the same. While that would still end in 2028, the TIF would be expanded to 2038, giving the county 100% of the revenue for the final 10 years.
Projects cited in the amendment included high-speed internet and wireless communication, environmental, tourisms branding, recreational and other uses that would help the largely rural county’s economy, some targeted at the unorganized territory, but others that would help the county as a whole, such as an infrastructure for emergency communications.
Since the amendment application was submitted last year, new projects have come to light that the county wants to add to the list of where the TIF money would be spent, Magoon told the Sun Journal.
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