LINCOLN, Maine — Tax increment financing money from projects such as First Wind’s Rollins Mountain industrial wind site might help the town purchase a street sweeper it has long needed and also might produce a reduction in town property taxes for the second straight year, officials said.
The Town Council will meet in a special session at 7 p.m. Monday to decide whether to buy a used street sweeper, Town Manager Lisa Goodwin said.
Public Works Department Director David Lloyd and one of his workers, Reginald Ogden, went to Skowhegan on Thursday to examine a 2007 Allianze 3000/MX or mechanical sweeper. They recommend that the town purchase it. Its price: $95,000, Goodwin said.
“It’s the best buy for our money,” Lloyd said Sunday. “I am pretty confident that this unit would give us eight or 10 years of service without any major problems.”
If bought used, a comparable vacuum model would cost about $165,000, Lloyd said. The factory demo model the town would buy has 5,950 miles and 1,100 operational miles on it.
“The dealer is holding the sweeper until the Town Council has the opportunity to vote on whether or not to purchase this piece of equipment,” Goodwin said in a statement.
The town’s present street sweeper is an antiquated model that has been breaking down for the last several years. Public Works Department workers have repaired it repeatedly but it is in dire need of replacement, Lloyd said.
“A good street sweeper keeps the whole community cleaner. It keeps our rivers and lakes cleaner and the pavement will actually last longer with a good sweeper because you don’t have all that dirt and moisture setting on the side of the road,” Lloyd said Sunday.
If approved, $30,000 of the purchase price will come from the First Wind TIF account, and $5,000 will come from the TIF negotiated among state and town officials and Lincoln Paper and Tissue LLC several years ago, Goodwin said.
If school officials propose a budget that has no more than a 2 percent increase and the town budget stays as Goodwin proposes, taxpayers will again see a property tax reduction, Goodwin said.
“Although expenditures increased, revenue from TIF projects has more than offset that increase,” Goodwin said.
This year’s tax rate, 19.86 mills, represents a decrease from 20.12 mills in 2011. Goodwin did not provide an estimate as to how much lower town taxes might fall in the 2012-13 tax year, which begins July 1.
The Budget Committee and Town Council are due to start reviewing the budget at 7 p.m. March 29.
When all the subsidies are received by First Wind and they abandon the turbines, will the street sweeper be able to sweep away the rusting hulks — monuments to the town council’s stupidity?
You NIMBY’s are all wacked out anyways, i guess you found out the not in my back yard didn’t work so well for yea. hahahahaha. I wonder how much $$$$ you lost in the court battles? Should have save your $$$$$ for your taxes.
If you dont like the windmills why are you still living in Lincoln? I bet there is someplace in maine where you could move that doesn’t have a green energy source. You NIMBY
With all due respect to both Nick Sambides and Lisa Goodwin, this story needs additional explanation. TIF revenues are not allowed to directly lower taxes in a host community. It is only to the extent that expenditures that would be part of the town’s budget can be shifted to the TIF money that there may be an impact on lowering taxes because the “real” budget has expenditures paid for by “sheltered” money. Unfortunately, what was once a useful economic development tool with narrowly targeted focus for qualifying expenditures has been seriously corrupted. This is a good example.
Who said the tif money was going into the budget to directly lower taxes?
So, after raising taxes each year we finally get a few pennies back? Isn’t that like raising gas prices 10 cents and then dropping them 2? With full taxation and no TIF,we could have bought a new sweeper. I would prefer the 7 mile industrial mess returned to the way it was.
The taxes cover the sevices you receive, Dont have any services your taxes will go down. But who you going to call when you need assistance such as Fire & Police oh i know GHOST BUSTERS.
I am sure it will be a great comfort to individuals who are kept awake at night due to the turbine noise, who find their quality of life and enjoyment of their homes forever changed due to the visual/noise impact, and have also lost a fortune in their property values, that the town has a new sweeper! GEE doesn’t that fix it for everyone! And a few dollars on property taxes! What a trade off! But then again, isn’t this just a “minority” who have had their lives turned upside down? Strange priorities in Lincoln.
A street sweeper! Cool! Will it sweep those turbines off the ridges? How does that .26 drop in the mil rate measure up to First Wind’s promises? How many local residents are employed at First Wind’s industrial “farm”?
Ask Mike Rogers of Maine Revenue Services to lay out the scenario of a 15 year plan for a town.
One timeline with TIF.
One time line with full evaluation of all properties (including turbines)
One time line of reduced property mil rates.
I myself would count the properties with-in two miles of a turbine 20-40% devalued. Less tax.
Thats why your not doing the counting NIMBY
The visual effects of the windpark are very disorienting. I can see turbines from all but one window. They give me a feeling of motion sickness and dizziness. The sound on a breezy day like today is maddening. I have been told that I am in a unique position, in which the sound reverberates/echoes/concentrates on/to my home. I am constantly expecting to see an airplane overhead. At night the flashing lights have four or five tempos/patterns between all that I can see and that are currently running, not in sync.
You must have one wierd shaped house or very few windows. You were dizzy a long time before thw windmills came in by the sound. You probally don’t even live in the area either.
It must be so nice to look out your window at night and see the blinking lights, should be almost like Christmas.
interesting that these towns think a company that is so in debt is their savior-
Don’t expect the nickname “Thinkin’ Lincoln” anytime soon.
Good one Billy, did it take you all night to come up with that?
Study suggests Maine among states ‘ripe’ for government corruption
http://www.theforecaster.net/news/print/2012/03/19/study-suggests-maine-state-government-among-those/117216
Lincoln…Stupid is as Stupid Does.
Illegal use of TIF funds, in a stupid town .
so tell me, How is this an Illegal use of TIF Funds?
I’ve stood right under a turbine in Lincoln and barely heard a slight swoosh sound, and that was it. i cant hear them from my house, i live with in a mile from the wind farm, and i dont think they look that bad at all. I think a street sweeper is very important to have to keep our streets clean and very happy the Council found one for under 100,000. and with Taxes going down for the 2nd straight year i’m even happier! Good job Dave, Marscella, Mike, Rod, Curt, Shaun, Steve and Lisa!
I agree James
Lincoln got a street sweeper in exchange for their view. Reminds me of the manhatten indians.