The City of Old Town has its own police and fire departments, public works facilities, library, recreational resources, and even community cable television - just to name a few. Each City Department is committed to providing the highest level of service possible, making it easy to do business in Old Town. Find out more about the spectrum of services we provide on Old Town's general website: http://www.old-town.org/.
In addition to typical city services, we excel at offering business support and expertise to encourage new business start-ups, business expansion, and growth.
Below are a few of the Business Support programs available:
For projects that need a little extra assistance to get off the ground, Old Town offers tax increment financing (TIF). This is a financing method that uses the increased property taxes that a new real estate development generates to finance costs of the development. Justification for economic need and City involvement must be demonstrated by:
Contact Ron Harriman at 207-947-8595 or ronharriman5@gmail.com to learn more about Old Town's tax increment financing options.
The Pine Tree Development Zone program offers eligible businesses the chance to reduce or eliminate state taxes for up to 10 years in an effort to create quality jobs in targeted industries and support new or expanding businesses.
Industry sectors eligible for this program include:
Old Town has three areas designated as part of the Pine Tree Zone: the Airport Business Park, Energy and Enterprise Park, and Downtown.
http://www.maine.gov/decd/mainebiz/pine_tree_zones/index.shtml
Old Town is in the process of creating a revolving loan fund to be used for business development projects. Guidelines are still in draft stages, but the City intends to allocate the funds for:
Guidelines indicate that financing from the City's revolving loan fund could be used by start-up or existing businesses towards the purchase of fixed assets (land, buildings, machinery, and equipment), inventory, or funding working capital needs. They can also be used for renovation or rehabilitation of fixed assets. The City anticipates adopting the guidelines and announcing the availability of funds by July 2012. Reach out to Ron Harriman at 207-947-8595 or ronharriman5@gmail.com to find out more information about this exciting new program.
As one part of the Revolving Loan Fund and from funds made available through an Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG), the City is able to lend up to $50,000 to finance the construction of new structures or the expansion, renovation, rehabilitation of existing structures. Eligible activities can also include personal property and start up costs when combined with construction/renovation of structures. Lending rates range from 1% to 3% above prime. Guidelines for this program can be found here: Revolving Loan Fund Guidelines (PDF)
The following are links to additional resources for economic development in the region:
