HALLOWELL — The City Council voted 5-2 Monday in favor of approving an amended version of a 10-year tax increment financing and credit enhancement agreement for the Camden National Bank Ice Vault, following months of discussion and public feedback both for and against.

The agreement began as a way to help the facility handle losses after its roof collapsed in 2011. At that time, facility owner Peter Prescott applied for a 20-year, 100% tax increment finance and credit enhancement agreement; however, the council agreed instead to reduce the agreement to 10 years with an option of renewal after its May 2022 expiration.

With that deadline approaching, Prescott and officials representing the arena first applied for a 10-year renewal that would return 95% of taxes paid for the first six years, and then tapering off to 85%, 75%, 65%, and 55% in the final four years.

About a dozen members of the public attended a February council meeting to voice their opinions on the renewal, with some in favor, but the majority opposed to the agreement.

Diana Scully and Patrick Wynne were the dissenting councilors in the vote Monday. Scully cited concerns with how the annual averages were calculated and that the city may receive less money overall than projected. Wynne said a stronger financial argument could be made for stretching the extension to 20 years, for a total of 30 years, as the city would see a larger return overall.

Some citizens opposed to the agreement criticized the idea of tax dollars helping a private business, with one resident referring to it as using public money as a “personal slush fund” for the business.

Gardiner resident Philip Davis said that the TIF law was intended to help businesses build in distressed towns, and that businesses are now using credit enhancement agreements to make “well-to-do towns compete for developers by offering bigger and bigger tax breaks.”

Residents in favor of the renewal vouched for the importance of the ice arena to children and families both in and outside of Hallowell.

Andy Couture, who runs a bowling alley and restaurant next to the ice arena, said he lost about 30% to 40% of business after the facility’s roof collapsed in 2011, and estimated that the arena and bowling alley bring around 4,000 to 6,000 people per week throughout the winter.

Because of the controversial nature of the agreement, the council unanimously rejected it and tasked the finance committee with creating an amendment that would not negatively impact taxes in time for Monday’s council meeting.

The result was an amended agreement that would bring the credit enhancement’s return down to 50% for the next 10 years, resulting in a net gain of $191,000 for the city.

With this agreement, the annual average TIF revenue for the city and arena is $30,197, or $301,970 over the course of the 10-year extension period. If the TIF were not renewed, officials said the city would receive $603,940 in tax revenues, but lose $412,269 of that due to the tax shift that would result from the arena no longer being designated as a TIF district. That would result in a $191,671 net benefit to the city, or roughly $110,000 less than if the city approved the amended extension.

Monday’s public hearing was brief compared to last month’s, with many of the same residents from the February hearing speaking out against the amendment.

Hallowell resident Patricia Connors said that, with the arena rebuilt, there is no financial need for the extension, and that if council approves the amended agreement it will be showing that it is Prescott’s advocate, not the advocate of the people of Hallowell.

Prescott said in February that for the first 37 years the arena was opened, all the taxes were paid, and that he would never have requested a TIF and CEA if the roof hadn’t collapsed. Without these agreements, he said the facility’s future is unclear, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused additional losses for the arena.

Even with a TIF agreement, Prescott said the facility wouldn’t come close to breaking even. Without it, though, he said more money would have to be put into the facility, which would result in less financial support to other community organizations.

On Tuesday, Prescott said he was relieved that the amended extension was approved, but that it was a shame that residents still felt the agreement would negatively impact taxes.

“They kept saying the tax base was going to go up,” Prescott said. “It’s kind of a funny thing; it’s not only not going to go up, it’s a possibility it might go down. So that’s pretty amazing.”

Ultimately, Prescott said he was happy with the council’s decision.

“I told them regardless of what they decided last night, they were the reason why we were able to rebuild the ice arena,” Prescott said. “They were really helpful, and they’ll be helpful again. That’s a big part of the team to keep the ice arena going.”

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