SEARSPORT – The amount of revenue the town might realize from Sears Island once it is fully used for marine transportation and conservation remained uncertain Friday after a meeting of the Joint Use Planning Committee.

The town has seen no tax money from the island for the past 15 years when the state bought the property from the former Bangor and Aroostook Railroad for $4 million.

“It was paid for in two parts,” said Searsport Town Manager James Gillray. “They paid $2 million in a friendly eminent domain proceeding, and they paid another $2 million in a friendly purchase.”

At Friday’s meeting, John Henshaw, director of the Maine Port Authority of the Department of Transportation, and Scott Dickerson, executive director of Coastal Mountains Land Trust, discussed hypothetical revenues.

The discussion was the sixth step in the committee’s seven-mission plan to reach a consensus agreement by June.

Looking at the transportation side for 341 acres of the 941-acre island, Henshaw said a $16.6 million, 100-foot crane, for example, could produce $156,870 in tax revenue.

He said total annual tax revenues to the town could come to $1.6 million if the Port Authority were to follow the recommendations of the Cornell Group Inc. of Fairfax, Va., to develop a new container terminal at Searsport for the flow of cargo traffic to the Midwest and beyond.

He said he based his estimates on an $18.50 mill rate.

Committee facilitator Dianne Smith asked about the possibility of creating a tax increment financing district around the equipment as a way to shelter it from the tax rolls.

Committee member Robert Grindrod of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Inc. said the “overriding principle here is that publicly owned property isn’t taxable.”

Dickerson of Coastal Mountains Land Trust then went over a two-year-old study by Planning Decisions Inc. that indicated annual retail sales generated by visitors to the conservation facilities would total $1.7 million, based on a 2005 visitor study for the state.

The proposed education, recreation and conservation activities would create five to six full- and part-time jobs. The new employment would inject $200,000 into the local economy, according to the study.

Dickerson said it was difficult to assess what nonprofits might pay in lieu of property taxes.

The study based its estimates on a hypothetical mill rate of $11.53.

The entity running the conservation area could build, own and operate visitor and education facilities on leased land.

If the center’s provider is a tax-exempt entity, it is possible that the entity would provide the town with an annual payment in lieu of taxes.

Dickerson said it is difficult to predict the property tax consequences.

The committee realizes that residents of Searsport are showing their discontent and want to know when the are getting taxes from the property.

The committee got into a discussion of direct and indirect revenues.

Committee facilitator Smith said the committee has to explore a creative way for the island to benefit the town.

“What does the town get from it?” she asked. “How is the town benefiting?”

“This is an opportunity to get rid of some of the bitterness in the town,” she added.

Nevertheless, the committee is accomplishing things the town said wouldn’t happen, Smith added.

Committee member Bruce Probert asked whether the minuses outweighed the pluses on the conservation side of the island.

Dickerson cautioned the group to “be very specific about the conservation easement.”

The committee scheduled its next meeting for noon May 16.

A public hearing on the committee’s work will be held in May, but no date was set.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

236-4598