You may not be aware of this, but the City of Belfast is giving almost a quarter of a million dollars to Nordic Aquafarms (NAF) to “sweeten the deal” of letting it build an industrial fish farm in our town. My question is, Why?

The company has told us that it has searched the world over, and Belfast is the best place on earth for its operation. So why does the deal need sweetening? Why does a Norwegian corporation with investors ready to initially spend $150 million  to develop the site need corporate welfare from the taxpayers of a small Maine town? 

There are some who might point out that if the City has that much money to give away, then it should be returned to the taxpayers. Here’s another idea. 

Use the money to set up a fund to aid existing Belfast businesses that want to expand in the city. It could be an out-and-out grant (which is what NAF is receiving) or a low interest/no interest revolving loan fund.  

There would be an application process with requirements, of course, and a review committee would be formed. For example, the company must have been doing business in Belfast for at least five years and want to expand and create jobs. It would need to be year-round and small enough to have no more than, say, ten employees with revenue of less than a particular amount to be decided. They would commit to create a certain number of jobs based on their current size and expansion plans, and would need to submit a business plan. (I suggest having at least one banker on the committee to evaluate the business plan.)

This approach has many advantages that the NAF project does not have: Most of the profits would be kept locally. We would be supporting our neighbors who have been serving us all these years and who have a proven track record of success. Many of these current business owners contribute their time and goods to community organizations and events and have proven themselves to be good corporate citizens. We’ve already “voted with our dollars” over the years in support of them. 

This is the kind of thinking we need from our City Council and City officials. We need to “be Belfastian” (in other words, creative and innovative) – and fair—in our economic development.

Linda Buckmaster lives in Belfast