TIF approved for Stetson Mountain project

MACHIAS – Washington County officials have given a boost to a power project planned for northern Washington County and set a milestone in Maine by becoming the first county in the state to establish a tax increment financing district in the Unorganized Territory.

By approving the TIF district for the Evergreen Wind Power project on remote Stetson Mountain, the Washington County commissioners will get to keep approximately $3.8 million of the $9.4 million in tax revenue generated by the project over the next 20 years. The county will use its share of the taxes for other economic development projects in Washington County and return the remaining $5.6 million to Evergreen for reinvestment in the project.

“I think it’s a great project,” Chris Gardner, chairman of the Washington County commissioners, said Tuesday. “We are a very pro-business board of commissioners. Responsible economic development is a good thing.”

The revenue normally would go to the state, but with the TIF all of it will go toward economic development projects in Washington County, including the Stetson Mountain proposal, Gardner said. A revolving loan for small business and either a county economic development position or an economic development contract with Sunrise County Economic Council are among the projects the county might fund with its share of the tax revenue, he said.

The proposal, which was approved unanimously earlier this month by the state’s Land Use Regulation Commission, will consist of 38 wind turbines, each roughly 390 feet tall from base to the tip of the highest blade. It is expected to generate 57 megawatts of pollution-free electricity annually, enough to power 27,500 Maine households each year, officials have said.

Stetson Mountain is about 10 miles southwest of Danforth village, between Baskahegan Lake and Route 169.

According to a press release issued by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, the project will help create employment for hundreds of people during the design, engineering and construction of the facility. Work is expected to begin this winter pending the state’s acceptance of the project’s final plans, the statement indicated.

The project is expected to create a handful of permanent jobs, according to officials.

Greg Mitchell, a consultant with Eaton Peabody who helped the county draft the TIF agreement, said Tuesday that because the wind farm has yet to be built, it will not result in any existing state money being shifted away from any other purpose.

“This is new tax revenue, so it maintains the status quo,” he said.