As Town Manager Barry Tibbetts explained, the agreement is a complex one, with around $800,000 of the project coming from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, or CMAQ program, which contains certain provisions. The remaining funding, and the subsequent year-to-year maintenance (estimated by Town Engineer Christopher Osterrieder to be around $45,000) would be covered by Tax Increment Financing, or TIF district funds.
Rules for TIF districts normally require that money collected from them must be spent in service of the districts. While the train platform would not be directly within a TIF district, transportation infrastructure can make TIF properties more valuable and therefore the money is usable, said Tibbetts.
He explained that when he met with representatives from the Amtrak Downeaster, he was told that the two most visited places off of the Downeaster line were Portland and the Kennebunks.
“My thinking in my mind is to take the transportation and bring more people to Kennebunk,” he said, which would be in service of the TIF district.
TIF districts have been debated at town meetings recently in light of the proposed expansion of the Lower Village TIF to include two additional properties. Opponents have expressed concerns about how the money is spent in service of the district.
Both Selectmen Richard Morin and Ed Karytko asked Tibbetts where the money would be coming from, and if it would be spent wisely, and Selectmen Shiloh Schulte asked how long town employees would spend on the project. Osterrieder explained that the MDOT process for funding the platform is quite rigorous and said he would be in contact with the board with any potential cost overruns, and would pursue some third party cost estimating.
“When someone makes it sound really good, I want to make it sound real,” Osterrieder said.
The motion for Tibbetts to sign the agreement was passed by a vote of 6-1, with Selectman Karytko opposed.
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