Business Resources during COVID-19

March 31, 2020

To all FEIC Agenda subscribers: As you know, the FEIC is not meeting at this time. The Town, however, does want to stay in touch with our local businesses.

The Town of Falmouth is very sorry for the disruption that COVID-19 has caused our local businesses. We want to help where we can. We invite you to reach out to Town staff with questions, concerns, and ideas on how we can assist you. In the meantime, the attached list or resources may prove helpful in navigating this difficult time. These resource provide additional information to help your business recover from losses as well as best practices to protect the safety of your customers and the health of your employees.

An often heard question is about Property Tax bills. These bills will be mailed around the beginning of April and the deadline for payments is May 7. Town officials have explored several avenues for deferring payments, reducing interest rates, or extending payment deadlines. While other communities have enacted such measures, currently, there is no statutory authority to move the date taxes are due or the date when interest accrues, even for emergency circumstances. Neither the emergency bill enacted by the Legislature last week nor the Governor’s emergency declaration or orders have made any changes to the laws governing property taxes, due dates, interest accrual, or tax lien procedures. Maine Municipal Association has petitioned the Governor for a remedy. If this occurs, the Council may consider local action.

We encourage you, if you have not already, to subscribe to our Town News & Announcements for e-mail updates related to the pandemic at: www.falmouthme.org/subscribe

Town of Falmouth Business Contact: Theo Holtwijk, Director of Long Range Planning and Economic Development, 207-699-5340, tholtwijk@falmouthme.org