Kibby Mountain TransCanada - Maine finance overseer objects to ‘giveaway’ tax break for wind farm (BDN)

PORTLAND, Maine — The state department that oversees tax collection in Maine has come out against extending a property tax break on the 44-turbine Kibby Mountain wind farm in Franklin County, saying the deal is a giveaway on the backs of residents outside the unorganized territory.

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/10/03/news/mid-maine/maine-finance-...

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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on October 5, 2016 at 7:58pm

These TIF agreements are very variable in how they are agreed upon. Somerset County took several months to determine the Bingham TIF after first establishing a committee. I believe it was comprised of some of the commissioners, the Industry ((First wind) of the day) an attorney or two and the land owners who were leasing the land.  Not to say there were not some community leaders consulted, but I highly doubt it. One commissioner wanted to distribute all funds throughout Somerset while another wanted it for the affected communities. Though I guess the across the county won, it seems they have so far all lost unless they had the same clause of "while we are producing" which could mean pro rated I suppose based on actual output or after the project starts producing. I would suspect the pro rated plan.  As always things that seem to good to be true, are usually  bad.  A free lunch could be poisonous. 

Comment by Paula D Kelso on October 5, 2016 at 6:41pm

Well this is one BDN article that actually is more factual than fluff. If the reader notes that the history of this particular TIF has been basically that a lot of the locally captured TIF money has gone to finance economic 'planners'. In my time in town government, that was my observation with grants and giveaways - a lot of the money often goes to finance the jobs of people who tell the taxpayers how to spend the diminished funds that actually end up going for the stated purpose.

And the article also notes how much money goes back to the developer. TIF means TAX INVESTMENT FINANCING. It means we, the people, find this project so beneficial to our community that we are willing to give tax money BACK to the project owner in gratitude for gracing us with the presence of the project in our community. Hey, when did you get a 60% rebate on your property tax? Yes, under the current tax system, without a TIF,  most of that tax money from the project goes to help pay for schools, county policing and jails etc. , and some to the state for state services. Personally I prefer that tax revenue be spent 100% for local, county and state services and 0% for financing some out-of-state or out-of-country corporation. And the majority of that corporate 'earnings' we know goes for the big wigs, not the guy on the bottom rung. The TIF program was never intended for purposes like this one. This is a perversion of the law and a scam on the taxpayers.

Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on October 4, 2016 at 10:47am

TIF's extend into more than just Wind projects. Interface (Guilford) asked for and received a community level TIF agreement for 20 years to build a new facility and expand (real) jobs. In the end after receiving it, they (the corporation) turned it down when finding it more beneficial to them to pay the going rate local property taxes.  They got their Cake, but refused to eat. 

Comment by arthur qwenk on October 4, 2016 at 10:35am

TIF's are tax payer theft perpetrated on them by wind scammers. Wind scammers get billions in Tax breaks from PTC ,rapid depreciation and more. TIF payments are the topping on the cake of unnecessarily generous tax benefits that Maine must stop for intermittent useless wind fraud.
Stop the further rape of Maine taxpayer's money.
No more TIF!
This is an abuse of Maine Tax Law!

Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on October 4, 2016 at 10:23am

A start..... 

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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