Incentives

The Town of Gorham has a long standing policy of utilizing federal, state, and local incentive programs to assist businesses in offsetting their development costs and to achieve a competitive advantage. Programs of particular note include:

TAX INCREMENT FINANCING

The State Department of Economic and Community Development administers a Tax Increment Financing Program, where businesses enter into agreements with the Town to pledge a portion of the future property taxes to finance bonds that provide capital for financing a project. A Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District is an area within Gorham that is designated as a development district to allow the municipality to financially support a business’s development program using the revenue stream of new property taxes that will result from improvements made to the property.

When forming a TIF district, the Town may either fund a portion of the necessary improvements or return a percentage of the incremental tax revenue to the company to help offset project costs. The maximum term for a TIF district is 30 years, except in instances where the municipality issues bonds to finance a project, in which case the maximum term is 20 years. Contact us for more information.

TOWN OF GORHAM REVOLVING LOAN PROGRAM

The Town of Gorham through its agent, The Gorham Economic Development Corporation, administers a permanent revolving loan fund (“RLF”)  for small and medium sized businesses located here. The program provides direct loans for businesses that can’t meet their entire financing needs through conventional sources of financing from banks and other financial institutions. The Town will work with banks doing business in the community to meet the needs of area businesses. The purpose of the fund is to provide financing to businesses that create taxable assessed value and increase the economic opportunity for citizens in the Town of Gorham. Click here for a complete list of program guidelines, eligibility and loan application.

CAMPUS VENTURES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE

Internships-The department of External Programs at the University of Southern Maine has launched a formal internship program for students in USM’s College of Science Technology and Health. This is a sanctioned, credit bearing internship which offers Gorham companies the opportunity to establish a pipeline for new hires with experience in their facilities and operations.

Campus Ventures is a university based commercialization accelerator program designed to assist Maine companies and manufacturing projects. The program is intended to give Maine based technology companies a jump start in bringing commercially viable technologies to market or help develop or resolve technical challenges within established operations. Services include product design and testing, process design, and prototype development. For more information visit www.usm.maine.edu/externalprograms

FEDERAL SOURCES

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

This Federal organization provides several loan programs to help finance small businesses in Maine. Funds are made available through intermediary organizations such as conventional banks and Certified Development Corporations (CDC).  A full list of their programs can be found here.

STATE SOURCES

Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD)

This state government department provides a large number of funding programs for Maine municipalities (for more information, refer to the DECD publication, A Guide to Public Financing), and the Business Equipment Tax Exemption Program. Gorham participates in the Cumberland County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program which offers several types of grants to local governments, which can benefit businesses that employ low and moderate income people. More information can be found at www.maine.gov and www.cumberlandcounty.org

Finance Authority of Maine (FAME)

The Finance Authority of Maine is an independent state agency that has more than two dozen loan programs assisting individuals and corporations of every type. The Authority was created in 1983 to aid Maine business in its ongoing efforts to begin, expand and operate more effectively in today’s competitive marketplace. For a full list of programs go to www.famemaine.com

REGIONAL SOURCES

Greater Portland Council of Governments

The Regional Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund is a program funded by the Finance Authority of Maine as part of a statewide strategy to provide a financing mechanism for small businesses. Loans of up to $200,000 are available with job creation and leveraging of funds required.  More information can be found at www.gpcog.org