Council hears $4.3 million downtown TIF spending plan and Downtown Bangor Partnership’s request to raise the special assessment

City finance staff and representatives of the Downtown Bangor Partnership presented the council with proposed uses of downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenues and a companion special assessment district budget at the May 7 budget workshop.

Finance staff said the downtown TIF fund is being proposed to cover roughly $4,300,000 of planning‑period expenses, including debt service tied to the Columbia Street parking deck and arena, demolition costs for the old police building on Court Street and multiyear projects such as a $2,000,000 village partnership reserve. The TIF plan also lists downtown sidewalks, pedestrian improvements, bulkhead redevelopment, retaining wall work along the waterfront, generator and camera installations, lighting upgrades and reserves for the Cross Insurance Center among planned uses.

“The downtown TIF has always been planned to utilize for some debt service. That’s the Columbia Street parking deck as well as the arena,” a city presenter said. The speaker noted some items will be funded from leftover TIF balances from prior years rather than new incremental capture.

Betsy Lundy, representing the Downtown Bangor Partnership, said the partnership’s budget request emphasizes marketing, events and beautification, with expanded tourism marketing and data‑tracking work through a regional partnership. She described experiments targeting visitors from New York City, Boston and other markets and said the partnership has run successful campaigns that drove traffic to downtown event and dining pages.

Lundy said the partnership proposed two special‑assessment options to the downtown board — a 5¢ and a 7¢ increase per $1,000 of assessed value — and that the board unanimously approved the 7¢ option to fund expanded staffing (bringing a full‑time position on), payroll increases, enhanced marketing and a continued downtown ambassadors program. Lundy said the partnership still requests about $230,000 from the downtown TIF to cover a portion of the ambassadors contract, as in the prior year.

City staff outlined the next legislative and procedural steps: a first reading of the special assessment order and the budget on May 28, and a second reading and final vote on June 9, each with public hearings, and an anticipated contract with Bangor Center Management d/b/a Downtown Bangor Partnership to administer downtown services if approved.

Lundy also described a proposed waterfront and underpass project developed with Wabanaki Public Health and other partners that would add lighting and decorative, functional planters to filter stormwater and interpretive topiary figures with audio/QR elements to invite visitors from the waterfront into historic downtown; she said the project is grant‑dependent.

Councilors asked for additional financial detail and year‑to‑date actuals, and staff agreed to supply those figures at a later meeting. No council vote was taken at the workshop; staff presented the plan and the partnership’s recommended assessment options for future readings and hearings.