The Connecticut development company that brought Cabela’s to Scarborough is now asking the town for help as it seeks construction financing for future projects on its Gateway Square development – the future home of Fairchild Semiconductor.

At New England Expedition’s request, Scarborough will convene a special Town Council meeting Wednesday to discuss extending the company’s tax-increment financing, or TIF, agreement with the town. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.

A TIF agreement, in general, forgives a developer a portion of the increased property taxes that a developed piece of property usually generates.

Gene Beaudoin of New England Expedition is asking the town to extend the agreement signed in 2006 from 10 years to 13 years.

Beaudoin said his group is having difficulty securing construction financing for Gateway Square projects, including Fairchild Semiconductor’s move from South Portland.

In 2006, it was estimated that the TIF agreement would generate New England Expedition about $825,000 per year in taxes, totaling about $8.25 million by the end of year 10. In the first two years, however, the property has generated only about $400,000 each year because property values have decreased.

“It’s just a matter of the assessed value for the first part of the project came in a little lower than expected,” Beaudoin said. “We need to get the values up to enjoy the TIF agreement we had with the town.”

Beaudoin said extending the agreement to 13 years would allow the company to earn the $8.25 million it expected, making it “attractive” to lending institutions.

Tom Hall, Scarborough town manager, said he agrees with Beaudoin. “I stand ready to support them in the request because I believe it is substantial to keep the Fairchild project moving forward,” Hall said. “They will exemplify the type of development we would like to encourage around the parkway.”

Beaudoin and Hall, however, appear to disagree on Fairchild’s fate if the agreement isn’t extended. Hall said he believes a lack of an extension could kill the project, while Beaudoin said it might not affect the deal.

“This is really unrelated to the nature of the tenants,” Beaudoin said. “The project is just going slower than we originally expected.”

Councilor Judith Roy says town councilors understand the economy is down and that developers are having problems securing financing, but any extension of the TIF agreement must also benefit the town.

“The town needs to have some gain from this,” Roy said. “Fairchild is the kind of business that we want along the parkway and an appropriate business that we envisioned, but we also don’t want to open ourselves up to other businesses coming forward and we begin to lose revenue.”

Councilor Shawn Babine agrees.

“We don’t want to set a precedent,” he warned the council during its Jan. 7 meeting.

The Gateway Plaza and Gateway Square projects are considered prime development areas because they are “bound by the turnpike and Payne Road,” Hall said. The Gateway Project consists of 84 acres that are part of the 375-acre Haigis Parkway Municipal Development.

Beaudoin said New England Expedition is finding success with its 130,000-square-foot Gateway Plaza development, across the street from Gateway Square on Payne Road. About 82 percent of the property is leased, he said.

Beaudoin said the Gateway Plaza project isn’t facing difficulties because the shops in the development are part of projects that began before the economic downturn.