Penobscot County towns investigate income status

Millinocket, Medway and East Millinocket have or will soon qualify as low- to moderate-income communities and be eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in state grant money.

That was the word Friday from John Moriarty, a technical assistance provider with RCAP Solutions, a free, private, nonprofit survey company in Massachusetts that the Penobscot County towns brought in for the survey.

“The surveys are not all in yet for Millinocket or Medway, but they are almost done. They both look like they will qualify,” Moriarty said Friday. “Mattawamkeag qualified two years ago.”The survey data East Millinocket residents completed showed that the town is a low- to moderate-income community, or LMI, but that status will help the town qualify for a $50,000 state Community Development Block Grant to build a new swimming pool, town Administrative Assistant Shirley Tapley said.

The news might be depressing, but it has value, she said. The grant program exists to help communities attract business, improve infrastructure, create housing and improve water quality, among other things.

“If you’re found to be LMI, that’s what you’re found to be. You might as well take advantage of it and see what you can get in funding,” Tapley said.

Of the 324 East Millinocket surveys returned to RCAP Solutions, 170 households listed themselves as low- to moderate income, while 154 had higher incomes, Tapley said. State grant regulations require at least 51 percent of all households surveyed to be LMI to qualify for aid.

The state uses a sliding-scale qualification system to define LMI. A one-person household’s income is less than $26,550, a two-person is less than $30,350, a three-person is less than $34,150 and a four-person is less than $37,900.

The Millinocket survey effort is about 25 surveys short of finished, Moriarty said. The surveys don’t seek to identify residents by name, and the returned surveys are confidential.

East Millinocket will use the data to finish its application for $50,000 to renovate the community pool. Portions of the pool’s bathhouse and office area will be renovated over the winter before the pool opens in June, Tapley said.

With full funding, the pool also will get some resurfacing, its ramp for disabled residents and deck will be redone, and its major equipment – pump, filter, filter sand, valves – will be replaced, recreation director Frank Clukey has said. Town residents voted to allocate $70,000 to rebuild or renovate the pool during a town meeting in May.

Moriarty said he hoped to finish the Millinocket and Medway surveys soon. Those results could help the pool aid grant to be approved. The pool serves residents in East Millinocket, Millinocket, Medway and Woodville.

Regional grants generally carry more weight than grants for single towns, he said. Most single-municipality grants usually offer as much as $400,000 in funding or matching funds from the state, but regional grants can go much higher.

The East Millinocket Board of Selectmen will meet at 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 6, to discuss and possibly approve the grant application and LMI survey results. The grant applications must be on the state government’s doorstep by Dec. 10, Tapley said.

The selectmen probably will discuss other projects the town might want to pursue. One of Tapley’s favorites is downtown lighting improvements done to coincide with the town’s 100-year birthday in 2007, she said.