Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 7 A P R I L 1 5 , 2 0 1 9 Survey: Maine has nation's third-highest tax burden Maine has the third-highest tax burden in the United States, accord- ing to a WalletHub survey released ahead of the April 15 filing day. New York state topped the list, followed by Hawaii and then Maine. Alaska came in last overall, with the lowest bur- den. Rankings were based on com- parisons of property taxes, individual income taxes and sales and excises taxes — as a share of total personal income tax in each state. Looking at individual categories, Maine was fifth-highest in terms of property tax burden (4.74%), and 15th high- est in individual income tax burden (2.6%) and 25th in terms of its sales and excise tax burden (3.50%). Maine was listed fifth among states found to have the highest property tax as a percentage of personal income, trail- ing New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey and Rhode Island. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E An additional 30,000 H-2B visas will be made available to employ- ers across the country to fill sea- sonal jobs — double the number of additional visas allotted in the past two years — for returning workers awarded a seasonal visa in at least one of the last three fiscal years, the Department of Homeland Security announced. Even so, it falls far short of what's needed both in Maine and nationally, according to U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine. A jetport hotel changes hands Embassy Suites Hilton of Portland, a 119-room hotel at 1050 Westbrook St. adjacent to the Portland International Jetport, has sold. Terms of the sale were not dis- closed. It is the second Maine hotel deal for Burlington, Mass.-based AAM 15 Management LLC, which in March 2018 acquired the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport. Elsewhere, the company owns the Crowne Plaza in Woburn, Mass.; Residence Inn by Marriott in Burlington, Mass.; Residence Inn by Marriott in Colchester, Vt.; Doubletree by Hilton in Burlington Vt.; and Springhill Suites in Roanoke, Va. Next year it will open a Residence Inn by Marriott in Manchester, N.H. Federal grant will expand public transit options e Greater Portland Council of Government has received $70,000 in federal funding for a pilot pro- gram to increase access to transpor- tation for vulnerable populations in the Portland area. e grant, which was funded through the Federal Transit Administration's Human Services Coordination Research program, will allow GPCOG to test Shopper Links, a city-wide weekly shopper shuttle service for older adults, people with disabilities and individuals with low incomes. e service would address the iden- tified unmet need for free or low- cost door-to-door transportation to grocery stores. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, wrote to the Federal S O U T H E R N S T A T E W I D E A brew pub that was 20 years before its time Imagine this: Two women get together to open a pub serving craft beer at what is one day going to be one of the hottest addresses on Portland's East End. Only problem is, it's 1995, and their brew pub site at 31 India St. is in a dilapidated neighborhood — a far cry from the destination it has become, with pricey condos and corporate headquarters. While Shipyard Brewing got its start just a block away the year before, craft beer's real craze is still two decades away. And at the time, having two women running a brewing space was enough of a novelty that it warranted a story in the June 1995 Mainebiz. "Why should the beer business be just for the guys?" the proprietors, K.T. Snyder and Patricia Lawton, were quoted as asking. Hedgehog Brew Pub may have been ahead of its time, but it faced a challenge to its business model — Portland's brew- ing regulations at the time, which stipu- lated that a pub owner could not brew beer on site. They found a workaround. According to Josh Christie's "Maine Beer: Brewing in Vacationland," Lawton and her husband Robert Lawton opened Oak Pond, a Skowhegan brewery, in part to supply the brew pub in Portland. Oak Pond shipped its first keg in July 1996, a year after the Hedgehog opened. Alas, the Hedgehog was apparently too far ahead of its time, and went under. The Lawtons, in turn, sold Oak Pond in 2003, according to Christie's book. Oak Pond is still brewing today, but the Hedgehog at 31 India St. is just a memory. SP ONSORED BY FUN FACT In August 1995, a Mainebiz display ad featured, among other properties, an "exceptional 3-bedroom contemporary" in the North Deering neighborhood of Portland. Asking price: $103,000. Bring your challenges. Share your solutions. What would other business leaders in your shoes do? How do they handle retention issues? Or deal with labor relations? Where do they trim costs? How would they take a company public? Whatever the challenge, a Vistage peer advisory group, facilitated by a Vistage Chair, can help you find the answers. Join us at our next monthly meeting. If you are a CEO or business owner, call 207.869.5491 or visit vistage.com Why should the beer business be just for the guys? — K.T. Snyder and Patricia Lawton Proprietors, Hedgehog Brew Pub

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