Out of 32 places to give tax breaks to investors, Gov. Paul LePage had special discretion for two. For each of those special picks, LePage looked to paper towns.
The governor’s use of those special selections to pick Madawaska and Baileyville reflect a hope that, despite declines in most paper industry sectors, the mills that have endured some brutal years may still draw new investment or serve as an anchor for sustaining rural economies.
St. Croix Tissue in Baileyville said the designation will help advance its plans to add two more tissue paper machines — supporting about another 80 jobs — to capture a greater share of one of the few paper markets in which demand has grown in recent years.
The governor said his administration’s decisions were largely fueled by the potential for such major investments on the horizon. That appears part of the case in Rumford, where mill officials in March told LePage’s administration that designating Rumford as a federal Opportunity Zone would help them attract investment to build a tissue paper machine on nearby vacant land.
To read the rest of “LePage had two special places to give out tax benefits. Both went to paper,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Darren Fishell, please follow this link to the BDN online.
