An Act To Clarify Tax Increment Financing
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0563
Committee Amendment CA_A_H193 (House)
Amends: 30-A MRSA §5222, 30-A MRSA §5223, 30-A MRSA §5224, 30-A MRSA §5225, 30-A MRSA §5226, 30-A MRSA §5231

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ,A" to H.P. 382, L.D. 563, Bill, "An Act To 
Clarify Tax Increment Financing" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the 
summary and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §5222, sub-§13, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 669, § 1, is 
amended to read: 
13. Original assessed value. "Original assessed value" means the assessed value of 
a development district as of March 31 st of the tax year preceding the year in which it was 
designated and, for development districts designated on or after April 1, 2014, "original 
assessed value" means the taxable assessed value of a development district as of March 
st of the tax year preceding the year in which it was designated by the legislative body 
of a municipality or a plantation. 
Sec. 2. 30-A MRSA §5223, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2011, c. 675, §2 and c. 
691, Pt. A, §31, is further amended to read: 
3. Conditions for approval. Designation of a development district is subject to the 
following conditions. 
A. At least 25%, by area, of the real property within a development district must 
meet at least one of the following criteria: 
(1) Must be a blighted area; 
(2) 
Must be in need of rehabilitation, redevelopment or conservation work 
including a fisheries and wildlife or marine resources project; or 
(3) Must be suitable for commercial or arts district uses. 
B. The total area of a single development district may not exceed 2% of the total 
acreage of the municipality or plantation. The total area of all development districts 
may not exceed 5% of the total acreage of the municipality or plantation. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMIITEE AMENDMENT "An to H.P. 382, L.D. 563 
C. The original assessed value of a proposed tax increment financing district plus the 
original assessed value of all existing tax increment financing districts within the 
municipality or plantation may not exceed 5% of the total value of taxable property 
within the municipality or plantation as of April 1 st preceding the date of the 
commissioner's approval of the designation of the proposed tax increment financing 
district. 
Excluded from the calculation in this paragraph is any district excluded from the 
calculation under former section 5253, subsection 1, paragraph C and any district 
designated on or after the effective date of this chapter that meets the following 
criteria: 
(1) The development program contains project costs, authorized by section 5225, 
subsection 1, paragraph A, that exceed $10,000,000; 
(2) The geographic area consists entirely of contiguous property owned by a 
single taxpayer; 
(3) The assessed value exceeds 10% of the total value of taxable property within 
the municipality or plantation; and 
(4) 
The development program does not contain project costs authorized by 
section 5225, subsection 1, paragraph C. 
For the purpose of this paragraph, "contiguous property" includes a parcel or parcels 
of land divided by a road, power line or right-of-way. 
D. The aggregate value of ml:lHieiflal aRd fllaatatioR geReral obligatioR iRdebtedRess 
fiRaaeed by the flroeeeds from tEl'J£ iReremeRt fiRaaciRg districts '.'lithiR aay COl:lHty 
may Rot exeeed $50,000,000 adjusted by a faetor equal to the flereeRtage ehange iR 
the URited States Bl:lfeaa of Labor Statisties CeRSl:lmer Price IRdex, URited States 
City l\"erage from Jaauary 1, 1996 to the date of cal6l:llatioR. 
(1) The commissioner may adoflt rules Reeessary to alleeate or aJJflortiOR the 
designatioR of caJJmred assessed "affie of flroflerty withiR flroflosed tax iRcremeBt 
finaReiRg districts to flermit comflliaace with the cORdition in this flaragraJJh. 
Rules adoflted fll:lfsuaat to this flaragraJJh are mOORe tecftnieal rules as defined in 
Title 5, ehaJJter 375, subcftaJJter 2 A. 
(2) The aeqaisition, constraetioR aRd installmeRt of all real aad flCfsORal flroflerty 
iffifJrovements, buildiRgs, stracmres, fixtl:lfes aad equiflmeRt iRcluded within the 
de'f'eloflment flrogram and financed through ml:lBiciflal or fllaRtatieR bORded 
indebtedRess ffil:lst be cOffifJleted within 8 years of the commissioRer's aJJflro"al of 
the designation of the tax ineremeBt finaaeiRg district. 
The conditions in paragraphs A to f) ~ do not apply to approved downtown tax increment 
financing districts, tax increment financing districts that consist solely of one or more 
community wind power generation facilities owned by a community wind power 
generator that has been certified by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to Title 
35-A, section 3403, subsection 3 or transit-oriented development districts. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A .. to H.P. 382, L.D. 563 
Sec. 3. 30-A MRSA §5224, sub-§2, ~H, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 669, §1, is 
amended to read: 
H. The duration of the program development district, which may not exceed a total 
of 30 tax years from the date of desigHatioH of the district beginning with the tax year 
in which the designation of the development district is effective pursuant to section 
5226 or, if specified in the development program, the subsequent tax year; and 
Sec. 4. 30-A MRSA §5225, sub-§l, ~C, as repealed and replaced by PL 2011, c. 
675, §3, is amended to read: 
C. Costs related to economic development, environmental improvements, fisheries 
and wildlife or marine resources projects, recreational trails or employment training 
within the municipality or plantation, including, but not limited to: 
(1) Costs of funding economic development programs or events developed by 
the municipality or plantation or funding the marketing of the municipality or 
plantation as a business or arts location; 
(2) Costs of funding environmental improvement projects developed by the 
municipality or plantation for commercial or arts district use or related to such 
activities; 
(3) Funding to establish permanent economic development revolving loan funds 
er~ investment funds and grants; 
(4) Costs of services and equipment to provide skills development and training 
for resideHts of, including scholarships to in-state educational institutions or to 
online learning entities when in-state options are not available, for jobs created or 
retained in the municipality or plantation. These costs may Hot e~(ceed 20% of 
the total project costs aHd must be designated as training funds in the 
development program; 
(5) Quality child care costs, including finance costs and construction, staffing, 
training, certification and accreditation costs related to child care; 
(6) Costs associated with new or existing recreational trails determined by the 
department to have significant potential to promote economic development, 
including, but not limited to, costs for mUltiple projects and project phases that 
may include planning, design, construction, maintenance, grooming and 
improvements with respect to new or existing recreational trails, which may 
include bridges that are part of the trail corridor, used all or in part for all-terrain 
vehicles, snowmobiles, hiking, bicycling, cross-country skiing or other related 
multiple uses; 
(7) Costs associated with a new or expanded transit service, limited to: 
(a) Transit service capital costs, including but not limited to: transit vehicles 
such as buses, ferries, vans, rail conveyances and related equipment; bus 
shelters and other transit-related structures; and benches, signs and other 
transit-related infrastructure; and 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ,A "to H.P. 382, L.D. 563 
(b) In the case of transit-oriented development districts, ongoing costs of 
adding to an existing transit system or creating a new transit service and 
limited strictly to transit operator salaries, transit vehicle fuel and transit 
vehicle parts replacements; and 
(8) Costs associated with the development of fisheries and wildlife or marine 
resources projects; and 
Sec. 5. 30-A MRSA §5226, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2011, c. 101, §17, is 
further amended to read: 
3. 
Effective date. 
A designation of a tax increment financing district or a 
development program for a tax increment financing district is effective upon approval by 
the commissioner. A designation of a development district other than a tax increment 
financing district is effective upon approval by the municipal or plantation legislative 
body. A development program other than a development program for a tax increment 
financing district is effective upon adoption by the municipal or plantation legislative 
body. 
Sec. 6. 30-A MRSA §5231, as amended by PL 2011, c. 101, §24, is further 
amended to read: 
§5231. Bond financing 
The legislative body of a municipality or plantation may authorize, issue and sell 
bonds, including, but not limited to, general obligation or revenue bonds or notes, that 
mature within 2-0 30 years from the date of issue to finance all project costs needed to 
carry out the development program within the development district. The plantation or 
municipal officers authorized to issue the bonds or notes may borrow money in 
anticipation of the sale of the bonds for a period of up to 3 years by issuing temporary 
notes and notes in renewal of the bonds. All revenues derived under section 5227 or 
under section 5228, subsection 1 received by the municipality or plantation are pledged 
for the payment of the activities described in the development pro!,'Tam and used to 
reduce or cancel the taxes that may otherwise be required to be expended for that 
purpose. 
The notes, bonds or other forms of financing may not be included when 
computing the municipality's or plantation's net debt. Nothing in this section restricts the 
ability of the municipality or plantation to raise revenue for the payment of project costs 
in any manner otherwise authorized by law.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment replaces the bill and changes it as follows. 
1. It provides that the municipal vote provides the date for determining the original 
assessed value for development districts and allows flexibility in the review and approval 
timing by the Department of Economic and Community Development. 
2. It retains language pertaining to a statutory cap on areas that may be included in a 
development district to maintain an exclusion that exists in current law. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 382, L.D. 563 
3. It clarifies the 30-tax-year permissible duration of a development program related 
to a tax increment financing district and ties the start of the 30-year period to the date the 
municipality or plantation begins the operational function of the development program. 
4. It removes the provision in the bill that allows as a proposed project cost capital 
costs for an eligible commercial development district. 
5. It clarifies that the proposed project costs allowed for skills development and 
training for jobs created or retained in the municipality or plantation where a 
development district is located may include scholarships for tuition at in-state educational 
institutions or online learning entities when in-state options are not available. 
6. It removes the provision that permits a municipality or plantation to delay the 
operational functioning of a tax increment financing district until a later tax year and 
allows the municipality or plantation to continue spending tax increment financing 
revenues for 3 years following the final year of the tax increment financing district. 
7. It permits a municipality or plantation to detennine the starting date of the 
development program, which may be the current tax year or a subsequent tax year as 
specified in the development program. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT