BATH — Bath is pumping the more than $2 million it brought in through tax increment financing agreements into debt payments, roadwork and parking and traffic studies.
The city has three tax increment financing agreements: the Bath Iron Works agreement, the Wingfarm agreement and the Downtown agreement. TIFs are a common financing tool municipalities use to pay for public projects. It essentially funnels any increased tax revenue in a defined district — such as a stretch of downtown or at a new business park — toward specific purposes, which can range from infrastructure upgrades to helping pay down debts without increasing property taxes across the board.
Just under half of the $2,031,932 in revenue from the combined tax increment financing budgets will go toward debt service payments. $41,698 of the $108,215 Wingfarm budget will go toward debt service payments, with the remainder going into road maintenance. About half of the $185,913 Downtown budget will go toward debt service payments, with the remainder being held in surplus.
The largest TIF deal, with Bath Iron Works, will bring in revenue of $1,739,804. $849,259 of that will go toward debt payments. The remainder goes to pay for a variety of expenses, with $2,545 left over as surplus.
As in previous years, that agreement pays for a portion of the salaries of a few officials at City Hall. The agreement also includes a contribution to Main Street Bath, a nonprofit organization that works closely with the city to develop the downtown area.
The remaining money is budgeted for a variety of economic development projects and public works projects, from brochures to benches to fireworks. Some of the larger line items include $150,000 for the design and construction of the Elm Street Plaza and $215,000 for engineering and repairing Commercial Street.
“Commercial Street is a project we’re proposing in the future which would be a complete rebuild of Commercial Street between the Viaduct down to Congress,” explained City Manager Peter Owen.
The project is necessary, said Owen, to address some of the issues caused by the railroad tracks there.
Other projects of note include, $68,000 for the South End traffic study and $60,000 for a downtown parking study.
All three budgets were approved unanimously.
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