BY JENN McDOWELL

A completely restructured deal that will result in a Cabela’s sporting goods store and a hotel in Hooksett will also reduce an already approved bond authorization from $18 million to $2 million as well as create a new TIF, or tax increment financing, district in the town.

The new plan requires voter approval, a decision which Hooksett Town Council Chairman Paul Loiselle called “a no-brainer.”

If voters don’t pass this deal, the town and developer are back to square one, as no one – including taxpayers, town officials and the developer – wants to touch the original plan voters passed last year.

While several citizens raised  concerns about the project itself, including tax impact, real estate values and possible effects on state aid at a special town meeting on Saturday, Sept. 22, others in Hooksett are glad to accept the new plan, which proposes a decrease in the town’s general obligation bonds for the project by $16 million.

At last year’s town election, Hooksett residents voted to approve a TIF district, a 300-acre parcel that the town would be obligated to for $18 million in bonds.

Earlier this month, the Town Council voted 8-1 to approve a reduction of the size of the TIF district to 100 acres and also to propose the new finance plan to voters which would reduce the town’s responsibility to $2 million in bonds.

The town’s general obligation bonds will be backed by a letter of credit from Miami & Pierce, the developer for the Wingate Hotel, also inside the TIF district.

Feldco, the developer operating on the project under the name New England Expedition-Hooksett LLC will obtain the other $16 million to fund the project up front through cash and private bonds.

Feldco produced Warrant Article 1 to seek voter approval for the TIF reduction and revised financial plan.

Saturday’s special town meeting was specifically held to introduce the warrant article outlining the new plan to voters and to get input on it.

Voting will take place Tuesday, Oct. 23, at Hooksett Cawley School. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

If the new article passes, the council will seek recision of the previously approved TIF district finance article.

The new deal

Under the TIF district plans, New England Expedition would fund the development with future tax revenues they generate.

Any excess tax revenue would go directly into the town’s general budget.

Marc Hughes, the financial advisor from First Albany Capital, who is representing the town on the development, presented the 20-year projections for the new plan at a Town Council meeting earlier in September.

The town will refund the developer $1 million each year from their taxes to pay off the $16 million in private bonds.

In the first year, according to tax increment projections, the development will generate a total of about $1.15 million, leaving the town with the excess revenue to the tune of $150,000,  which will go directly into the general fund.

Each year for the 20-year TIF period, according to the projections, that excess revenue for the town will increase, and will eventually far surpass the $2 million in bonds the town will put up.

TIF reduction

The Town Council approved the proposed TIF reduction from 300 acres to 100 acres, excluding the area west of I-93 from the district, a council decision Chairman Paul Loiselle voted against.

At the time, Loiselle said he was concerned that the excluded property would offer no incentives for future developers, and thus would not ultimately lead to increased property tax revenues for the town.

In the future, if a developer does build on the area outside the proposed TIF, those tax revenues will now go straight to the town as the property will no longer be included in the financing plan for the current TIF.

Council members also have said that the excluded area can be added back into the TIF in the future.

Public input

Many of those who spoke up at the meeting voiced concerns about the tax impact the developments will have on the town, particularly on the schools, in the future.

The Town Council, Beaudoin and Hughes addressed many of the residential concerns by reminding that the passage of Article 1 was only the first step in the process, and that the town was not being asked to vote on issuing the bonds.

“We’re not looking for a bond approval,” Beaudoin said.

Loiselle pointed out that the article  would only approve the $16 million reduction in the town’s liability and allow the council to enter into negotiations with New England Expeditions.

Budget Committee Chairman Vincent Lembo expressed concern over the $2 million in bonds backed by Miami & Pierce.

“They could walk away, and we’re still going to take on a shortfall,” Lembo said.

Loiselle said that the town will not be on the hook if Miami &Pierce do not follow through on the bond because the letter of credit is backed by cash.

“There will be no revenue or dollars coming from taxpayers in any way, shape or form,” Loiselle said.

Impacts on schools, police and fire response, and population levels have not been conducted yet.

Joanne McHugh, chairman of the Hooksett School Board, addressed the council at the special meeting, pointing out that the state cut financial aid to Hooksett schools when the TIF for Exit 10 improvements began to get extra revenue.

“You should take into consideration that analysis needs to be done,” McHugh said.

Loiselle responded that the Exit 10 TIF generates $700,000 in excess tax revenue each year that goes directly into the general fund.

Lembo said the fire and police departments will need more equipment and staff once the development opens to the public.

He wondered whether the tax revenues generated by the development each year would be enough to balance potential negative impacts elsewhere in the town.

Hughes said those types of studies could not be produced until the town approves the new  plan.

Lembo also questioned the council’s decision to waive $500,000 in traffic impact fees for Cabela’s, a tax break that  put  many Hooksett residents on edge.

Deborah Brewster of T.F. Moran, the engineering company in charge of the Hackett Hill road improvements that will go with the development, took the floor to explain the waiver.

The traffic impact fees were waived so the developer could spend a total $1.5 million on improving the area surrounding the intersection off of I-93.

The improvements, which amount to about $7 million, include adding a lane and toll both to the exit, a roundabout into the property, and a five-way traffic signal at the intersection.

According to Loiselle, the state Department of Transportation has already deemed the intersection dangerous, and that the proposed improvements would take it out of the “failed” category.

Bill Sirak of the Hooksett Economic Development Committee called the deal “a financial home run” by the town, adding that he believes the council has demonstrated the ability to work on the taxpayer’s terms.

“The Town Council has been especially concerned with the taxpayers. I have every confidence that you will take the appropriate steps to go forward,” Sirak said.

Only the first step

The most important thing that town members need to understand, said Scott Tranchemontagne of New England Expeditions LLC, is that the developmental process will being with the passage of this article.

“First and foremost, it’s critical for people to know they need to come out and vote,” he said.

No deals have been made with Feldco or Miami&Pierce yet, and will not be made unless the town votes to accept the new TIF and financial plan.

Tranchemontagne said he thinks the meeting went very well, and that voters asked great questions.

“People just want to understand what the vote is about,” he said. “It’s giving the town authorization to negotiate with the development team.”

He added that 62 percent of voters passed the first plan. The new plan makes the town responsible for only about 12 percent of what they agreed to before.

“If you supported this project two years ago, you would definitely support it now,” he said.
He added that there are many more steps on the road to development. “It’s a very specific and defined process that any
developer has to go through,” Tranchemontagne said.

Voters, he said, will have a say in every step of that process, and this is just their first opportunity to do so.

“The people of Hooksett are going to have many opportunities to weigh in on this project beyond Oct. 23.”

State involvement

The state is not contributing any funding to the project. The developer is undertaking the costs of the road improvements by the intersection off of I-93.

Mike Vlacich, director of the  state’s Division of Economic Development, attended the meeting to show support for the project, he said. He took notes on the proceedings.

Vlacich said the state wants to ensure the project is a successful undertaking for the town and the developer, adding that he sees the deal as “a win-win for all parties.”

State Rep. David Hess of Hooksett has been following the project closely, attending Town Council meetings and offering input in the discussions about road improvements, sewage restructuring and tax impact.

Hess did not agree at all with the first deal, but said that the new proposal is “incredibly superior” to the old one, which he said would not have produced tax revenue for the town until around the 13th year of the 20-year agreement.