Funding now obtainable from Governor’s Jobs Plan for smaller communities to cut back vitality prices and create financial savings for taxpayers
Norridgewock, MAINE –Governor Janet Mills and Effectivity Maine right this moment introduced the provision of $4 million from the Maine Jobs & Restoration Plan to assist small communities minimize vitality prices in public buildings and save taxpayer {dollars} by enhancing vitality effectivity.
This chance from Effectivity Maine for cities, cities, and Tribal lands of fewer than 5,000 residents is the newest in a collection of vitality effectivity initiatives supported by a $50 million funding from Governor Janet Mills’ Maine Jobs and Restoration Plan.
Different initiatives have focused effectivity upgrades in Maine’s hospitality sector, public faculties, and set up of Degree 2 EV chargers in rural communities, in addition to serving to extra Maine households lower your expenses with improved insulation and weatherization.
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Funds for this initiative might be used totally on investments to cut back consumption of heating oil and propane by switching heating, air flow, and air-con (HVAC) programs to high-performance warmth pump programs that ship environment friendly, clear heating and air-con. Different eligible tasks will embody inside and exterior LED lighting, refrigeration upgrades, and wood-heat programs.
“Each Maine neighborhood is contemplating methods to develop into extra vitality environment friendly and fewer depending on imported fossil fuels to assist lower your expenses,” mentioned Governor Janet Mills. “With this funding from my Jobs Plan via Effectivity Maine, native leaders have a companion in my Administration to chop their vitality consumption and prices and to create financial savings for taxpayers – a win-win.”
“We’re excited to supply this promotion with monetary help from the Maine Jobs and Restoration Plan to assist Maine’s smaller municipalities improve growing older vitality programs,” mentioned Michael Stoddard, Government Director of the Effectivity Maine Belief. “This initiative can assist budget-strapped cities ease the burden on their taxpayers, and help vitality independence and resilience whereas paving the best way to a extra sustainable clear vitality future.”
“Via Effectivity Maine and applications just like the Group Resilience Partnership, which affords grants to cities, cities and tribal governments to pursue local weather priorities, Maine communities have extra choices than ever to economize and cut back emissions via vitality effectivity and environment friendly heating options,” mentioned Hannah Pingree, Director of the Governor’s Workplace of Coverage Innovation and the Future and co-chair of the Maine Local weather Council. “This can be a win-win for communities and for taxpayers, as continued investments in effectivity will lower your expenses within the near-term, whereas defending our folks, economic system and atmosphere from the impacts of the local weather disaster for the long-term.”
“Efforts like this are having optimistic impacts in Maine communities,” mentionedCatherine Conlow, Government Director of the Maine Municipal Affiliation. “Previously few months, these investments have helped municipalities make energy-related enhancements to growing older buildings, as consequence decreasing related heating and lighting prices and rising worker morale as working environments develop into extra comfy. Cities and cities exploring vitality effectivity potentialities, in addition to a in search of a return on funding for his or her property taxpayers are inspired to discover this program.”
Effectivity Maine introduced this funding alternative right this moment in Norridgewock, a number one instance of municipal vitality effectivity. The city’s fireplace division, airport, library, municipal storage, wastewater facility, and city workplaces all accomplished lighting tasks and decreased the city’s annual electrical energy utilization by greater than 46,000 kilowatt hours, equal to the typical annual electrical energy utilization of seven Maine properties. Norridgewock additionally put in warmth pumps in its fireplace station, airport terminal, and library, saving greater than $2,000 in heating gas prices.
Effectivity Maine will put up photographs and B-roll of right this moment’s press occasion HERE.
“These incentives are too good to depart on the desk,” mentioned Norridgewock City Supervisor Richard LaBelle. “Like most municipalities, we face the ever-expanding stress to maintain taxes down. We had been capable of improve our lighting and set up warmth pumps at a fraction of the price. The brand new lighting actually reworked these buildings, making them extra inviting for public guests and extra nice workspaces. And the warmth pumps enabled us to take away window air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and heaters beneath employees desks. “To me, that exhibits we’re doing what’s finest for our neighborhood by being sensible with our budgets and a clever guardian of the taxpayer greenback.”
To be eligible for these funds, communities will need to have a inhabitants fewer than 5,000 residents based mostly on 2020 Maine census knowledge. Effectivity Maine will settle for functions till August 31, 2023, or till funds are exhausted. Accepted tasks should be accomplished by February 28, 2024.
Effectivity Maine is holding three webinars on this new funding alternative to additional inform events. For extra data on the qualifying tools and different eligibility particulars, please go to Effectivity Maine’s web site. Communities with greater than 5,000 folks could qualify for different public sector incentives, which could be discovered right here.
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Since 2019, greater than 80,000 new high-efficiency warmth pumps have been put in throughout Maine to handle the state’s nation-leading dependency on heating oil and cut back dangerous carbon emissions. The state’s local weather plan, Maine Received’t Wait, has focused putting in 100,000 new warmth pumps in Maine by 2025.
This new program builds on actions already taken by the Mills Administration to cut back prices for Maine folks grappling with elevated costs for heating gas and electrical energy pushed by unstable international fossil gas markets. These actions embody:
Returning extra than half of the state’s funds surplus to Maine folks via $850 inflation aid checks;
Opposing a 30 p.c electrical energy charge improve sought by Central Maine Energy and an analogous improve proposed by Versant Energy;
Securing a one-time invoice credit score of $90 for tens of 1000’s of low-income clients of Central Maine Energy and Versant;
Offering $800 in heating price aid to almost 13,000 low-income households to assist pay for prime vitality prices;
Offering as much as $1,400 in tax aid for eligible low- and middle-income Maine households and seniors;
Signing into regulation LD 2010, sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson, that can make a tiered credit score of as much as $3,000 obtainable to Maine small companies to offset will increase in the usual provide for electrical energy;
Effectivity Maine is an unbiased administrator of applications in Maine to extend vitality effectivity and cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions, primarily via providing monetary incentives on the acquisition of high-efficiency tools or serving to clients change operations to cut back vitality prices. Go to efficiencymaine.com for extra data.
The Maine Jobs & Restoration Plan is the Governor’s plan, accepted by the Legislature, to speculate practically $1 billion in Federal American Rescue Plan funds to enhance the lives of Maine folks and households, assist companies, create good-paying jobs, and construct an economic system poised for future prosperity.
It attracts closely on suggestions from the Governor’s Financial Restoration Committee and the State’s 10-Yr Financial Improvement Technique, remodeling them into actual motion to enhance the lives of Maine folks and strengthen the economic system.
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For extra about Maine Jobs & Restoration Plan, go to Maine.Gov/Jobsplan.
River otters are members of the weasel family, and are equally comfortable on land or in the water.
They probably are the most fun mammal Maine has, just because they like to play. But their play antics have a more serious purpose too. They teach their young survival skills, and hone their own, that way.
You will see them slide down riverbanks and muddy or snowy hills, wrestle with each other, bellyflop, somersault or juggle rocks while lying on their backs, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
The otters in this video courtesy of Colin Chase have found a fun log to include in their games.
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Otters are social creatures but usually live alone in pairs. Parents raise two or three kits that are born in spring in a den near a river or stream, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website says.
They primarily eat fish, but also shellfish, crayfish and sometimes turtles, snakes, muskrats and small beavers, according to the MDIF&W.
Otters can swim up to a quarter mile under water, and their noses and ears close while they are submerged. They also have a membrane that closes over their eyes so they can see better under water, the Smithsonian said.
They are mostly nocturnal so it’s a treat to see them during the day, playing or hunting for food.
Maine State Police responded to more than 50 crashes and road slide-offs Saturday after southern Maine woke up to some light snowfall.
Police were responding to several crashes on the Maine Turnpike (Interstate 95) and Interstate 295 south of Augusta, state police said in a Facebook message posted around 10 a.m. Saturday.
Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss said that as of early Saturday afternoon, more than 50 crashes had been reported on the turnpike and I-295.
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“The Turnpike has seen 24 crashes and slide offs primarily between Kittery and Falmouth with a higher concentration in Saco,” Moss wrote in an email. “The interstate has seen about 30 crashes and slide offs also in the Falmouth area but now in Lincoln and heading north.”
Moss said no injuries have been reported in any of the crashes.
“So far it appears visibility and driving too fast for road conditions are the causation factors,” Moss said.
State police reminded drivers to take caution, especially during snowy conditions, in the Facebook post.
“Please drive with extra care and give yourself plenty of space between you and the other vehicles on the roadway,” the post said. “Give the MDOT and Turnpike plows extra consideration and space to do their jobs to clear the roadway. Drive slow, plan for the extra time to get to your destination and be safe.”
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New rules that went into effect in August changing who pays real estate commissions have resulted in more paperwork and some anxiety for home buyers and sellers but have had little, if any, impact on home prices in the state’s hot real estate market.
The changes, which stem from a settlement in a lawsuit accusing real estate agents of conspiring to keep their commissions high, altered the way commission fees are set nationally.
For decades, most home sales in the United States have included a commission fee, typically between 5 and 6 percent of the sale price.
The typical Maine home went for around $400,000 this fall. A 5 to 6 percent commission on a $400,000 home would be between $20,000 and $24,000, split between the agents for the buyer and the seller.
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Before the changes in August, the split for each agent was predetermined by the seller, who paid the fee for both agents. That usually resulted in fees being baked into the list price of a home.
In some states (although not in Maine) agents were able to search the multiple listing service, a catalogue of homes for sale, by the commission split, which critics said incentivized agents to steer clients toward more expensive properties with higher commissions.
Now, fees are negotiated sale-by-sale. Buyers and sellers are now each responsible for paying their own agents, meaning a buyer may have to come with more cash up front if a seller doesn’t want to pay the commission fee for a buyer’s agent. Sellers are also no longer allowed to include commission fees in their listings.
Tacy Ridlon, a listing agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate The Masiello Group in Ellsworth, who has been in real estate for 32 years, said it is a bit jarring to have a conversation with buyers about whether they are willing to pay part of their agent’s commission.
Once the commission is established and the agreement signed, she said, the buyer’s agent then approaches the seller’s agent to see what part of their commission the seller is willing to cover, if any.
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Ridlon said 3 percent for the buyer’s agent is a typical starting point.
“We have to start high. If the seller is willing to offer 2 percent for the buyer’s agent, then our buyer only has to pay one percent… If the seller is not offering anything, then we ask the buyer to pay a certain amount. Some can pay and some can’t. For some it’s very difficult because they don’t have a lot of money to play around with.”
The change has resulted in some confusion for many buyers and even some agents around the country, as rules differ from state-to-state. Photo by Kate Cough.
Some agents said they found the changes minimal; others find the paperwork and negotiating with buyers daunting. One agency owner said the ruling has done little to bring prices down.
“This ruling has done nothing to save buyers or sellers any money,” said Billy Milliken, a designated broker and owner of Bold Coast Properties, LLC, in Jonesport. “If anything, it’s made the cost of buying a home even more expensive.”
Milliken said his sellers have had no problem agreeing to pay both buyers’ and sellers’ commissions. The cost has been embedded in the price of the property.
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“The real loser is first time home buyers who are not educated in buying a home and also have limited cash resources,” said Milliken. “It puts them at a disadvantage.”
The change has resulted in some confusion for many buyers and even some agents around the country, as rules differ from state-to-state.
People are slowly getting used to the changes, said Monet Yarnell, president of the Midcoast Board of Realtors, who owns her own agency, Sell 207 in Belfast, adding that Maine’s real estate practices were already more transparent than many other areas of the country.
“I think it was a little confusing in the beginning, more doom and gloom,” said Yarnell. But sellers are still incentivized to offer something to the buyers’ agents, she said. And the changes have increased the level of communication between agents and their clients.
“It’s more how the money flows rather than the actual dollars.”
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Ridlon, in Ellsworth, said she has been fortunate that most sellers have offered some compensation toward the buyer’s agent commission. “I have not had a buyer who can’t do the 3 percent.”
Ridlon had one seller who was not willing to pay any part of the buyer’s agent’s commission. The property had a lot of showings, but many of the buyers asked for closing costs to be covered or for concessions in lieu of picking up part of the commission.
“That didn’t really work for my seller either,” she said. “Then he relented and said he would pay one percent.”
The property sold.
Debbie Walter sold her condominium in Stockton Springs via Yarnell and then bought another condominium in New London, N.H., with another real estate agent.
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“We’re kind of guinea pigs,” said Walter. “We were very concerned about that whole piece, both as sellers and buyers.”
Fearful the sale of their house might not proceed smoothly the couple readily agreed to pay a 3 percent commission for the buyer’s agent.
When they made their offer to buy the condominium in N.H., they offered as buyers to cover their buyer’s agent’s commission as well. But the seller in that case took an equally cautious approach and offered to cover 2.5 percent of the buyer’s agent’s commission, which Walters’ agent accepted.
“It was very stressful,” Walter said. Offering to cover their buyer’s agent’s commission, she said, created “one less headache for the whole closing procedure.”
Tom McKee, president of the Maine Realtors Association, said the settlement and new rules have had little impact.
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“It hasn’t changed anything for me,” said McKee, who is with Keller Williams in Portland. Now that the commission split is no longer listed in the M.L.S., said McKee, “there are just more questions in the transaction.”
McKee said there is no set percentage, that everything is negotiable.
“If we do our job right and are meeting with the client first, they already understand.”
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