What's At Stake?

Support Historic Preservation!

Building on Maine’s strengths – Building Maine’s Communities

Maine has one of the highest rates of historic buildings in the nation, yet it has one of the lowest rates of utilization of the Historic Preservation Tax Credit. Revamping the tax credit to support investments in our communities will help to support thriving downtown districts in nearly every town in the state.

LD 262, An Act to Amend the Credit for Rehabilitation of Historic Properties, sponsored by Rep. Ted Koffman (D- Bar Harbor), will revamp the credit by making it fully refundable, eliminating the cap, and providing benefits for smaller rehabilitations than current law allows.

Preserving Historical Districts boosts Maine’s “Brand”

Maine is a unique place and that helps to drive Maine’s economy. From tourism to companies like LL Bean, businesses benefit from the notion that Maine has a high quality of life, a clean environment and has a “sense of place” that is different from the rest of the country.
Maine’s sense of place and high quality of life also help to attract, and keep, businesses and their employees.

Maine’s current historic tax credit is under utilized

Nearly one-third of Maine’s housing stock was built before 1939 – giving it the 4^th oldest housing stock in the nation.
But Maine is 42nd out of 50 states for the number of projects taking advantage of the credit between 2000 and 2005.

Remake Maine’s tax credit to spur preservation efforts

Maine’s historic preservation tax credit is one of the few in the nation that is tied to the federal historic preservation tax credit. Maine should decouple from the federal code in order to provide greater opportunities for Maine communities.
Remove the cap on project size – currently set at $100,000
Make the credit fully refundable
Make the credit transferable to allow out of state investors and third parties to benefit
Allow smaller rehabilitation projects to qualify – projects between $50,000 and $250,000 would not qualify for the federal credit, but could participate in a state version.

Historic Preservation Tax Credit will boost economy

An analysis of LD 262 by Planning Decisions, Inc and Lipman, Frizzell & Mitchell, LLC of Columbia, Maryland for Maine Preservation in April 2007, suggests that Maine could increase qualified development activity from a current rate of $5 million to more than $65 million with these changes.
Maine could add 800 jobs a year, spread across the state, according to an analysis by Dr. Charles Colgan
Making the credit available to smaller projects better suits Maine’s building stock.
Every county in the state has eligible properties; this will help to revitalize rural downtowns.

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