Chief recovery officer outlines $1 million pilot to reimburse towns for flood buyouts

Douglas Farnham, the state—s chief recovery officer, told the Government Operations & Military Affairs committee that a proposed one-time pilot fund would reimburse municipalities for lost municipal tax revenue when homes or businesses are removed from local grand lists through federally supported buyouts after the 2023 and 2024 floods.

Farnham, who was appointed after the July 2023 floods and said his office coordinates recovery across state and federal grants, told lawmakers the proposal would draw from a special payment-in-lieu-of-taxes fund created by revenues from the local auction tax. "So this proposal says, give the municipality from this pilot special fund . . . the full municipal value that they would have received from that private owner for 5 years," Farnham said. He added the pilot would then pay 50% of that municipal value for an additional five years to give towns time to rebuild the grand list.

The proposal includes a $1,000,000 appropriation in the budget…