Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O. X I X A U G U S T 1 0 , 2 0 2 0 6 State revenues will take big COVID hit e state of Maine's revenues have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pan- demic. General Fund revenues will decrease by $524 million in the current fiscal year, $434 million in fiscal year 2022, and $449 million in fiscal year 2023 as a result of the COVID-19 pan- demic, the state Revenue Forecasting Committee has projected. Because the state ended the 2020 fiscal year on June 30 with a $106 million surplus, the 2021 reduction will be slightly offset and will net to $418 million. Maine's General Fund was projected in April to total $4.1 billion for the 2021 fiscal year, and represents nearly half of the state's budget. Rent relief program doubled ree months after it was launched, the state's $5 million COVID-19 Rent Relief Program is doubling the size of its assistance payments. Effective Aug.3, the program upped the payments from $500 to $1,000. Under the program, which Gov. Janet Mills established in April with MaineHousing, households that meet certain financial requirements can now receive a payment of up to $1,000 paid directly to the landlord for up to three months. e assistance may also be used to pay for overdue rent. In accept- ing the payment, the landlord agrees not to evict the tenant for nonpayment for the month the payment was issued. e program is supported with $5 mil- lion in state coronavirus relief funds, including $2.2 million Mills earmarked in July from federal Community Development Block Grants. B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state S T A T E W I D E N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn and the Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment collabora- tive, which includes Central Maine Healthcare, MaineGeneral Health, MaineHealth, Northern Light Health and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, announced a partnership to connect volunteers with local food pantries to help meet the unprecedented demand for services across the state of Maine. The Department of Homeland Security awarded a total of $10.3 million in state and local preparedness grants to the state of Maine through the fiscal-year 2020 State and Local Preparedness Grant Program to help address the nation's immediate secu- rity needs and ensure public safety in communities across the country. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced that Maine farmers have been awarded a total of $9.5 million to date to help offset the financial harm they have ex- perienced due to COVID-19. The fund- ing is provided through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. In addition, the senator said the state of Maine will receive a total of $17 million in CARES Act funding through the U.S. Department of Education to create new, innovative ways to better serve K-12 students during the pandemic. Eight airports in Maine were awarded a total of $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Airport Improvement Program to improve airport infrastructure. Central Maine Airport of Norridgewock received $861,111; Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport, $854,548; Houlton International Airport, $400,000; Waterville Robert Lafleur Airport, $375,000; Pittsfield Municipal Airport, $372,100; Brunswick Executive Airport, $290,500; Bangor International Airport, $237,906; and Millinocket Municipal Airport, $152,000. Community Clinical Services in Lewiston was awarded $329,717 through the Paycheck Protection Program & Health Care Enhancement Act to expand COVID-19 testing and tracing capacities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced direct assistance grants to three Maine fire departments through the agency's Fiscal Year 2019 How WEX stepped in to offer space to the Roux Institute B y P e t e r V a n A l l e n P o r t l a n d — Northeastern University's plans to open a technology education site in Portland, the Roux Institute, coincided with WEX Inc.'s abundance of new office space. Roux Institute has sublet 20,000 square feet, or one floor, at 100 Fore St., a new building that is expected to be completed in early fall. Roux Institute expects to start digitally in September and move in this fall. WEX (NYSE: WEX) originally planned to have two floors in that building, but while Roux is there will occupy just one floor. The building is around the corner from WEX's two-year- old headquarters at 1 Hancock St. "We had been meeting with Roux Institute, they were talking about the desire to have a temporary space until they figured out long term space. We had taken more space than we needed in the short term — we wanted long-term space. We posed to them that this could be a good solu- tion," Melissa Smith, CEO and chair at WEX, told Mainebiz. "We wanted to help them anyway. We saw it has a benefit to be that close to the work we're doing." The Roux Institute is being launched with a donation of $100 million from the Roux Family Foundation, which was established by tech entrepreneur and Lewiston native David Roux and his wife, Barbara. The institute is intended to be an innovation hub, David Roux has said, spe- cializing in digital and life sci- ences, ideally feeding students into Maine's workforce. Its cor- porate partners include WEX, Tilson, IDEXX Laboratories, L.L. Bean Inc., Bangor Savings Bank and five others. At 100 Fore St., Roux's lease will be four years, and will allow it to get established before finding longer-term space. For WEX, which has scaled back expansion plans dur- ing the pandemic, it will allow more time to absorb the space. WEX, which is Maine's third-largest publicly traded com- pany, by revenues, offers corporate payment services and solutions. It has 1,291 employees in Maine and 4,898 total at 30 offices worldwide. Up to 250 will move into 100 Fore St. WEX has about 400 employees in its headquarters build- ing and others at the former headquarters in South Portland. Plans are still being finalized for a $50 million opera- tions center at the Downs in Scarborough. Smith said the design is still evolving, as the company takes into consideration the need for social distancing and a large number of remote workers. Most of WEX's workforce will work remotely at least through this year. "The groundbreaking may be delayed as we finalize designs," she said. "Employees want more flexibility. Working from home has created the need for more flexibility. We're now restructuring design," though WEX still hopes to move in by 2022. It's still being determined how many employees will work in the Scarborough offices, though she said part of the plan was to allow employees commuting from south of Portland to use that as their base rather than coming into the Portland headquarters. WEX plans to occupy 100 Fore St. by the first half of 2021. B R I E F Roux Institute has sublet 20,000 square feet, or one floor, at 100 Fore St., a new building that is expected to be completed in early fall. The building will also house 250 WEX employees. P H O T O / P E T E R VA N A L L E N We saw it has a benefit to be that close to the work we're doing. — Melissa Smith WEX

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