TIF committee recommends ending county support for Eastern Maine Development Corp. contract in UT

At the Aug. 25 workshop the commission’s TIF committee reported it had reviewed the draft rewrite of the UT TIF district application and the contract with Eastern Maine Development Corp. dated Nov. 6, 2025, which relates to an economic development director role for unorganized territories.

Committee members said the review found little or no positive impact for unorganized territory residents over the seven-year life of the agreement and voted unanimously not to continue using TIF funds to support the economic development contract. The memorandum under discussion was dated Aug. 18, 2025 and included recommendations to amend the TIF application and clarify allowable uses.

Committee members said they would not take final action at the workshop but wanted commissioners to "mull it over" ahead of a likely decision in the next regular meeting. The committee also removed loans from the application process for now — keeping loans available as an option in the future but not part of the standard application — after legal counsel advised that loans were not required by the DECD terms if the county did not wish to include them in the application.

Commissioners discussed how the initial decision to use TIF funds for the contract had been handled; staff said the contract had gone through the TIF committee originally but ultimately reflected the commission’s decision. Committee members said if a UT applicant later needed a loan for a capital project the commission could approve that on a case-by-case basis and engage a consultant to manage any loan mechanics.

Ending: The TIF committee recommended edits to the UT TIF application and returned the package to the commission for consideration at next week’s meeting; the committee’s formal vote (not to continue funding the Eastern Maine Development Corp. contract) was unanimous among members present.