DOVER-FOXCROFT – In a 5-1 vote Monday, Dover-Foxcroft selectmen went on record as supporting a countywide bond issue in November that would fund economic development projects in Dover-Foxcroft, Greenville and Milo.

County residents will be asked to authorize Piscataquis County commissioners to issue general obligation bonds or notes of up to $952,000 to fund the following: a waterline extension to Pleasant River Lumber Co. in Dover-Foxcroft; a 45-acre purchase from the state for expansion of Greenville Industrial Park; a nearly 8,000-square-foot addition to Greenville Business Incubator; and to purchase land or develop the proposed Eastern Piscataquis Industrial Park in Milo.

Piscataquis County Commissioner Tom Lizotte told selectmen Monday that if the bond is approved, the payments would be shared by all municipalities in the county, including the unorganized territories, which would pay 36 percent of the bond.

The bond is viewed as a way to stimulate the economy in Piscataquis County by bringing in jobs and spreading the tax burden. In addition, it was noted that every $1 spent in the county will leverage about $3.50 in federal and state funds.

“A job created in one town does not just benefit one town,” Lizotte said. As an example, he said the hospital draws its employees from all communities in the county, as do other businesses.

“I do think we’re in this together,” Selectman Tom Sands said in support of the bond. If the bond issue is approved by voters, Dover-Foxcroft would pay an additional annual assessment to Piscataquis County of $15,817 for 10 years.

Selectman Joyce Perry asked that the board not endorse the “unaffordable tax.” She called the bond issue “ill-conceived” and said it would reinforce the voters’ calls for changes in tax policy and fiscal protection from “irresponsible elected officials.”

“This bond will require our county residents and businesses to take on another million plus dollars of additional debt and force these costs to be shared by our smallest, most vulnerable neighboring communities who receive no benefit,” Perry said.

If the bond were to pass, Milo would end up competing with Dover-Foxcroft in the business park market for jobs, Perry said. “Their park will join Dover-Foxcroft’s in becoming just another failed money pit, sucking up more and more local funding in order to maintain the hollow promise of attracting businesses,” she predicted.

Perry also asked if it was coincidental that projects being supported by commissioners happen to be in their respective communities.

Public hearings on the bond proposal will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15, in the county commissioners’ office in Dover-Foxcroft; 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Community House in Greenville and 7 p.m. Oct. 13 at Milo Town Hall.