Town eyes plan to lure in business

Medway Town Meeting voters will be asked to consider whether to streamline the process for issuing permits for commercial construction, a move that proponents say would encourage businesses to locate or expand in town.

Medway needs to lure businesses, the proponents argue, because they will generate new tax revenue at a time the town has been struggling to balance its budget without sharp increases in property owner tax bills.

"I want to see the town move forward, to increase the tax base," said Andy Rodenhiser , the chairman of the Planning Board, which is proposing the change. "It's sad when the people who built the town can't afford to live here anymore."

Town Meeting, which is to convene at 7 tomorrow night at Medway High School, will be asked to adopt expedited permitting legislation that was amended this year by the Legislature. Although the law, called 43D, has been around for a few years, the state now offers grants to towns to help put it in place.

Rodenhiser said the streamlined six-month process outlined in the law would make the town more attractive to companies that want to grow quickly. Medway would be one of the first towns in the state to adopt the new rules.

Officials also said it would help them in their quest to keep Cybex International Inc., the fitness equipment maker, from leaving town.

"We've been working with Cybex to keep them in town," Rodenhiser said. "They had a growth plan, and if we weren't showing them a valiant effort, they would start making an exit plan."

The Planning Board also is working on a manual for development, which Rodenhiser described as a flow chart of easy-to-follow steps for businesses that want to get through the municipal permitting process. He said a 43D grant would allow the town to finish the manual and make it a tool for encouraging further development.

The Planning Board is also asking Town Meeting voters to approve a tax break for CGIT in Westborough, which plans to move to town.

The tax increment financing plan, or TIF, offered to CGIT, a company that makes products for the compressed gas industry, will give the company a tax break over 10 years on about $3 million in improvements planned at an existing building in the Adler Street industrial park, said James Galligan, chairman of the selectmen.

"The bonus for the town is a new business in a currently unoccupied building," Galligan said. "We hope that will spur growth at the industrial park."

According to an analysis by the Board of Assessors, the company will save about $91,000 while still paying $1.5 million in property taxes over the 10-year period.

Ninety percent of the town's tax revenue is derived from residences. Town officials would like businesses to shoulder more of the burden.

The town has recently received an auditor's final statements on fiscal years 2005 and 2006, which were marked by deficit spending, poor record-keeping, and turnover of key town financial staff.

Last spring, the town took a $2 million loan from the state to operate while financial records were examined and reconciled.

"It will be a year or two before we're standing straight again," Galligan said after a meeting about the audit last week.

Although the auditor, Frank Biron of Melanson Heath & Co., said Medway has "turned a corner" on straightening out its finances, the town is locked into a state-ordered savings plan that ties up much of its available cash in reserve accounts, said Town Administrator Suzanne Kennedy.

That spells bad news for the town's library, which requires a cash infusion to stay certified, Wendy Rowe, chairwoman of the library's trustees, said during the Special Town Meeting in October.

Galligan said tomorrow's Town Meeting is likely to feature discussion of the library's plight. Following a meeting with state library commissioners last month, Medway officials will have one more opportunity next month to plead for a waiver of state requirements before possible revocation of the library's certification, which would end residents' ability to borrow from other libraries.

"They told us the budget cut the library experienced in Medway is roughly double the largest amount they've ever approved," Galligan said. "It doesn't bode well for us.

"We're paying for the mistakes of the past by losing our cultural institutions."

Alison O'Leary Murray may be reached at amurray@globe.com.