An Act To Expand the Use of Tax Increment Financing Revenue
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §5225, sub-§1, ¶C, as amended by PL 2013, c. 184, §4, is further amended to read:
(1) Costs of funding economic development programs or events developed by the municipality or plantation or funding the marketing of the municipality or plantation as a business or arts location;
(2) Costs of funding environmental improvement projects developed by the municipality or plantation for commercial or arts district use or related to such activities;
(3) Funding to establish permanent economic development revolving loan funds, investment funds and grants;
(4) Costs of services and equipment to provide skills development and training, including scholarships to in-state educational institutions or to online learning entities when in-state options are not available, for jobs created or retained in the municipality or plantation. These costs must be designated as training funds in the development program;
(5) Quality child care costs, including finance costs and construction, staffing, training, certification and accreditation costs related to child care;
(6) Costs associated with new or existing recreational trails determined by the department to have significant potential to promote economic development, including, but not limited to, costs for multiple projects and project phases that may include planning, design, construction, maintenance, grooming and improvements with respect to new or existing recreational trails, which may include bridges that are part of the trail corridor, used all or in part for all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, hiking, bicycling, cross-country skiing or other related multiple uses;
(7) Costs associated with a new or expanded transit service, limited to:
(a) Transit service capital costs, including but not limited to: transit vehicles such as buses, ferries, vans, rail conveyances and related equipment; bus shelters and other transit-related structures; and benches, signs and other transit-related infrastructure; and
(b) In the case of transit-oriented development districts, ongoing costs of adding to an existing transit system or creating a new transit service and limited strictly to transit operator salaries, transit vehicle fuel and transit vehicle parts replacements; and
(8) Costs associated with the development of fisheries and wildlife or marine resources projects; and
(9) Costs of vital public services as long as:
(a) Not more than 50% of the tax increment revenue is used to pay the costs of providing vital public services; and
(b) The costs of vital public services are paid for during no more than 2 fiscal years of the municipality or plantation during the duration of the tax increment financing district and its development program.
For purposes of this paragraph, "vital public services" means fire and rescue, law enforcement and waste disposal services and local road improvements; and
SUMMARY
This bill allows a municipality or plantation that forms a tax increment financing district to use the revenue generated by that district to pay for the costs of vital public services, as long as the costs of the services do not exceed 50% of the tax increment revenue and the costs are not paid for more than 2 fiscal years during the life of the tax increment financing district and its development program. Vital public services are fire and rescue, law enforcement and waste disposal services and local road improvements.