An Act To Promote County-based Economic Development Efforts
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1007
Committee: Business, Research and Economic Development
Sponsors: RA YE, MILLER, DOW, GOOLEY, MILLS, SMITH, ANNIS, PERRY, PINKHAM, SAVIELLO
Amends: 30-A MRSA §125

Legislative Document 
No. 1007 
S.P.324 
March 6, 2007 
An Act To Promote County-based Economic Development Efforts 
Reference to the Committee on Business, Research and Economic Development suggested 
and ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator RA YE of Washington. 
Cosponsored by Representative MILLER of Somerville and 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Senators: DOW of Lincoln, GOOLEY of Franklin, MILLS of Somerset, SMITH of 
Piscataquis, Representatives: ANNIS of Dover-Foxcroft, PERRY of Calais, PINKHAM of 
Lexington Township, SAVIELLO of Wilton. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §125, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 179, § I, is amended to read: 
§125. Economic development 
1. Budget authority. Subject to the provisions of chapter 3, subchapter I, article 6, 
the county commissioners of Piscataquis Count)' may in each county have the power to 
raise, appropriate, borrow and expend money for the purposes of county economic 
development, subject to the following provisions and limitations. 
A. 
As used in this section, "county economic development" means asslstmg or 
encouraging the creation or preservation of new or existing employment 
opportunities for residents of Piscataquis COUflt)' a county, or any of its municipalities 
or unorganized territories, through one or more of the following activities: 
(I) 
Development of new sites for the physical location, settlement or 
resettlement of new or expanded manufacturing, fishing. commercial or other 
business enterprises to be located within the county, including surveying, 
payment of related costs for surveying, land acquisition, land use and 
environmental 
permitting, 
engineering, 
legal 
services and 
infrastructure 
development; 
(2) Constructing or financing the development of new community industrial 
buildings, as defined in Title 5, section 13120-B, to be located within Piscataquis 
County the county; 
(3) 
Redevelopment of existing structures located within the county for 
commercial, industrial or mixed use; 
(4) Construction, financing or operating assistance to necessary publicly owned 
transportation 
facilities, 
including 
facilities 
for 
passenger 
and 
cargo 
transportation; 
(5) Provision of local matching funds for any state or federal transportation 
project, community development grant or rural development grant to the county 
or any of its municipalities, intended to achieve purposes substantially similar to 
those listed in subparagraphs (I) to (4); 
(6) 
Financial participation in any county economic development project 
organized or funded on a regional basis by 2 or more political subdivisions or 
state or federal agencies participating counties. for this purpose, the county 
commissioners may provide assistance to a regional project to be located in 
whole or in part outside of Piscataquis Count)' that county only upon a finding by 
the commissioners that the project will confer a substantial economic benefit on 
Piscataquis Count)' the county providing the assistance; 
(7) Funding the annual salary and operating expenses of a county economic 
development officer, development agency or development office; and 
(8) 
Ne.cessary contractual services for any of the purposes stated in this 
paragraph. 
Page I - 123LR0807(OI)-1 
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B. 
All borrowing by the county commissioners for the purposes of this section is 
subject to the following limitations. 
(I) All bonds issued by the county commissioners for the purposes of this 
section must be approved prior to issuance by the voters of Piscataquis COUflt)' 
the county by referendum vote in accordance with section 938, except that a 
referendum for this purpose may be conducted at any regular or special county 
election at which the total number of votes cast for and against the proposed bond 
issue is equal to at least ~ 
40% of the total number of votes cast in Piscataquis 
COUflt)' the county for all gubernatorial candidates in the most recent 
gubernatorial election . 
II 
IS 
(2) The aggregate unpaid principal amount of all bonds issued under this section 
may not exceed 2% of the most recent taxable valuation of Piscataquis Couflty 
the county, as certified by the State Tax Assessor pursuant to Title 36, section 
381, adjusted to 100%. 
(3) Debt may not be incurred or bOflds issued A county may not incur debt or 
issue bonds under this section if such debt or bonds, in combination with other 
county debt then outstanding, would cause Piscataquis Couflty the county to 
exceed limitations on total county debt otherwise provided by law. 
(4) All bonds issued under this section must be for capital project costs only and 
may not be used to fund the annual operating or program expenses of any agency, 
facility, program or office. The commissioners shall deposit the proceeds of any 
bond issued under this section to a capital project account for the project 
concerned, established in accordance with section 921. Bond proceeds deposited 
to a capital project account may etHy be used only for purposes of financing or 
completing the project concerned and for no other purposes. Any funds 
remaining in the capital project account upon completion or termination of the 
project concerned must be used by the commissioners to prepay any debt 
incurred by the county for that project. If the terms of a particular bond issued 
under this section prohibit prepayment of the bond, any funds remaining in the 
capital project account upon completion or termination of the project concerned 
may be transferred to another capital project account or used to retire other 
county debt. 
2. Voter approval required. The county commissioners may not take any action 
pursuant to subsection 1 unless the authority granted under this section is approved by a 
maiority of the legal voters voting at a countywide referendum, as long as the total 
number of votes cast for and against the acceptance of this section equals or exceeds 40% 
of the total votes cast for all candidates for Governor in the last gubernatorial election in 
the county. The referendum may be conducted at a general or special county referendum 
election. The referendum must be called, advertised and conducted according to the law 
relating to municipal elections, except that the registrar of voters is not required to 
prepare or the clerk to post a new list of voters. 
The county commissioners shall cause 
the preparation of the required ballots, on which they shall state the subject matter of this 
section in the following question: 
I 
"Do you favor adoption of the statute granting the [county name] county 
commissioners the authority to raise, appropriate and borrow money for 
the purposes of county economic development, subject to certain 
limitations contained in the statute?" 
The voters shall indicate by a cross or a check mark placed against the word "Yes" or 
"No" their opinion on the question. The results must be declared by the county 
commissioners and due certificate filed by the clerk with the Secretary of State. 
Sec. 2. Appropriations and allocations. 
The following appropriations and 
allocations are made. 
ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, DEPARTMENT OF 
I I 
Administration - Economic and Community Development 0069 
Initiative: Provides one-time funds for the Department of Economic and Community 
Development to provide support to Maine's 16 counties of up to $100,000 in state 
funding per county subject to a I: I match. 
GENERAL FUND 
All Other 
GENERAL FUND TOTAL 
2007-08 
$ 1,600,000 
$1,600,000 
SUMMARY 
2008-09 
$0 
$0 
This bill allows counties in the State to adopt a statute conferring countywide 
economic powers to raise, appropriate, borrow and expend money for the purposes of 
county economic development through a countywide referendum. It also makes one-time 
General Fund appropriations of $1,600,000 in fiscal year 2007-08 for the Department of 
Economic and Community Development to provide support to Maine's 16 counties of up 
to $100,000 in state funding per county subject to a 1: I match. 
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