RAYMOND – On Monday, SPX Dielectric, the largest employer in Raymond, announced 31 layoffs effective immediately.

The job cuts are the result of the economic downturn, company officials said in a statement.

“This is due to the challenging business environment. The positions were in a variety of manufacturing and support roles. SPX has offered to provide severance pay, benefits and outplacement assistance to those affected,” the statement read.

Dielectric, along with ChipCo and Sabre Yachts, is one of the largest employers and taxpayers in Raymond. According to Raymond’s tax assessor, Elizabeth Cummings, the antenna manufacturing company is slated to pay the town of Raymond $66,660 in property and business equipment taxes this year. Last year, the firm paid taxes totaling $65,670.

The company has been located in Raymond ever since its founder, Dr. Charles Brown, moved the business to his hometown in 1954. From its inception in 1942, Dielectric has manufactured television broadcasting transmission lines, antennas and other related equipment.

“This is a very unfavorable thing for our region. Many people not only work in Raymond at Dielectric, but also live in Raymond. So it’ll have a ripple effect through our whole community. It’s very dire news for both the Lakes Region and Raymond,” Raymond Town Manager Don Willard said Tuesday.

Rolf Olsen, a Raymond resident who was laid off from Dielectric about five years ago in a previous round of company layoffs, said the primary reason Dielectric is conducting the recent layoffs is probably due to the completion of the digital television conversion.

“A lot of their work was on the D-TV side, and a lot of those big projects have been completed as all these television stations across the country have converted over to digital,” Olsen said.

Olsen, who worked at Dielectric for 25 years, still has many acquaintances who work at the Raymond plant. He said before this recent layoff, the Raymond antenna maker had 160 or so employees, down from a peak employment of 250-300 workers in the early 1990s. The company would not return calls seeking employment history.

Joe Bruno, a selectman in Raymond and owner of the Community Pharmacies chain, said the layoffs are a hardship, especially for the employees who were cut.

“The hard part is the time of year it’s occurring,” Bruno said. “It’s very sad to see this happen right before Christmas.”

Bruno also said the state should bear some of the blame for Dielectric’s downsizing. “It’s horrible to do business in Maine. Health insurance mandates, taxes, worker’s comp rates, the recent $54 million increase in unemployment taxes really hurts,” he said. “It’s just one thing on top of another for these companies.”