That included an agreement that provides direct funding for the town and a separate “transportation agreement” to ensure the town benefited from the facility and “would not be unduly impacted by the tax exemption,” Reinholt said. In response to Robinson’s criticisms, Summit Utilities spokesperson Lizzy Reinholt highlighted the collaborative effort between Summit and the town of Clinton during the planning process for the facility. While officials in some towns see the decades-old exemption benefit as necessary for valuable, job-producing industries to stay in business and comply with environmental regulations, others, like Robinson, see it as a disservice to individual taxpayers. The exemption granted to Peaks Renewables is for companies that install “pollution control” facilities to cut down their release of industrial air and water pollutants, according to the Maine DEP. “These are income-producing properties … and that shouldn’t come off the tax rolls as a public benefit when they’re getting an income from that,” Robinson said. He said as a result, Clinton taxpayers will shoulder more of the costs of maintaining roads and other services in town.Īlthough the facility’s property value has not yet been assessed, Robinson said based on the $22 million price tag Peaks gave him for building costs, “The taxes avoided by this exemption are significant.” The facility, which began operations under natural gas distributor Summit Utilities this fall, received a sizable tax exemption from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in the spring of 2022 that Robinson said likely will allow it to save up to $300,000 in annual taxes that would have gone to the town. That will not be the case for one of the small Maine town’s newer industries: Peaks Renewables, which owns a facility that captures methane gas from the manure of neighboring dairy cows, cleans the gaseous products, then sends it away via pipeline for sale and use. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. Otherwise, Robinson says, the burden falls on individual taxpayers to fund the public services that businesses use. To Clinton tax assessor Garnett Robinson, any industry making money from its real estate or property should pay its entire share in taxes to the municipality it’s based in. Maine rarely sanctions residential care facilities even after severe abuse or neglect incidents $1.6 million in tax revenue on the line for Wiscasset in dispute over nuclear waste facility MaineCare dental patients face long waits, drives for care There’s federal money to shield communities from disasters. Maine law enforcement officers often lack direction for how to conduct welfare checksĪgainst Their Will: Maine’s probate courts lack a method to detect fraud Maine nursing homes lead nation in meeting the Biden administration’s proposed staffing standards, but challenges loom Maine medical licensure board extends suspension for COVID vaccine skeptic Recovery council takes first steps to distribute $9 million in opioid settlement money Statewide initiative recruits employers to combat substance use disorder with innovative workplace program
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