Paper mill lobbies Rumford for tax breaks
Rumford Paper Co. and its parent company, NewPage, which is emerging from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, are lobbying Rumford officials to lower the company's taxes, saying the expected loss of a state tax reimbursement means the Maine mill will remain the highest-taxed mill within NewPage's corporation.
In Rumford, the $4.3 million the mill pays in property taxes comprises one-third of the town's total tax revenue, the Sun Journal reported.
The paper reported that mill officials and other area business leaders are now urging the the town's board of selectmen to reduce the mill's taxes by $2 million.
The company began lobbying for the reduction earlier this month when it released property tax figures for NewPage mills that showed the Rumford mill topping the list. The company's next highest-taxed mill, the Escanaba mill in Michigan, pays $2 million less, according to the company.
In making their case, company officials told the Sun Journal that the expected suspension of the state's Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement program — part of Gov. Paul LePage's $6.3 billion budget proposal — means the loss of $1 million in reimbursements.
The mill's Ohio-based parent company emerged from a bankruptcy reorganization in December and in February announced 300 layoffs, which cut 45 workers in Rumford.
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