Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Regional Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Regional council outlines budget, loans, housing gap and culvert-mapping priorities
Summary
A regional council representative told the Sagadahoc County Budget Committee about a roughly $900,000 operating budget, revolving loan activity, a regional housing gap estimate of about 4,700 units, and a culvert-mapping project intended to identify infrastructure priorities for funding programs including EDA and DOT streams.
A representative for the regional council told the Sagadahoc County Budget Committee the council’s operating budget is roughly $900,000, with a core staff cost of about $700,000, and said the council is using member dues largely as match to pursue federal and state grant funding.
The speaker said the council provided about $250,000 in loans to local businesses in the prior fiscal year, and that five businesses received grants through the council’s grant-development program. The council has pending projects in its revolving loan and grant pipelines and has completed a first full draft of a comprehensive economic development strategy (CEDS) for the region, which will be posted online.
On housing, the council representative said a recent regional analysis identified an estimated housing gap of roughly 4,700 units across the region and described a focus on “attainable” or workforce housing targeted at households earning about 80% to 120–125% of median income, while noting continued needs for low-income and senior housing. The council said it received a housing opportunity grant originally for $75,000 and expects a $150,000 award pending final contract.
The speaker described a culvert inventory and condition-assessment project across multiple communities intended to feed infrastructure priority lists for programs run by the state DOT and federal programs. The council said culverts moved from state to town responsibility can create large local liabilities; the speaker gave an example of a culvert failure that required near-$1 million work and in that instance FEMA reimbursed costs.
The council also discussed plans for a regional code-enforcement technical assistance position intended to provide shared expertise to municipalities; the position was described as a roughly three-year contract and would be managed by staff including Max Johnston. The speaker said the council is awaiting final contracts for several grants (including an EDA-related grant) and that federal funding uncertainty could affect staffing levels, but the council has contingency plans to reduce staff to a smaller core if necessary.
Committee members asked about private-road inclusion in the culvert inventory and whether culverts on private roads would be eligible for funding; the council said the inventory would include private crossings identified in reviews and that resources for private roads would be a separate question when seeking funding.
No formal committee action was taken on these presentations; the items were presented for information as part of the budget-review process.
