Maine’s release leaves out two York County Opportunity Zones

AUGUSTA, Maine — Governor Janet Mills’ November 10 release welcomes 25 census tracts as Opportunity Zones “in Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Washington counties.” That is nine counties. The CDFI Fund final list has 25 designated tracts in ten counties. The release’s county list leaves out York County, which has two tracts on the federal list.

Lead photo: the Maine State Capitol in Augusta, the dateline of the Mills release and a city that holds a designated Kennebec County tract (23011010300). City-context photograph; it does not show a designated tract. Credit: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain; cropped and resized.

The York County tracts are 23031025206 and 23031030204, both Rural. Maine DECD, via Mainebiz, places them in Biddeford and Sanford. Mainebiz published the full 25-tract table, with those town names, at 9:35 a.m. ET on November 11, and itself repeats “nine Maine counties” while listing the two York tracts. The angle here is the omission in the governor’s release, not a first account of the York tracts.

Only 8 of the 25 designated tracts share a tract number with the 2018 CDFI list, which had 32 Maine zones:

Hancock, Sagadahoc and Waldo counties each had one 2018 zone and have none on the 2027 list. York County went from one tract in 2018 (23031005200, a number that is not reused) to two new tracts.

Mainebiz reports, as a paraphrase of comments from Maine DECD Commissioner Mike Duguay, that of the 32 communities selected in the previous round, only a dozen were eligible this time.

Twenty-two of the 25 designated tracts are Rural and three are Non-Rural. Cumberland County has the split, and Maine DECD, via Mainebiz, assigns the Rural tract to Brunswick:

In Treasury’s October 30, 2026 eligibility file (ACS 2020–2024), 19 of the 25 have a poverty rate of at least 20 percent and 17 have a median-family-income ratio of 70 percent or less. Examples in that file include:

The zone map moved. Investors with Maine gains need the tract list, not the 2018 map or the governor’s county summary. Biddeford and Sanford have designated tracts; Hancock, Sagadahoc and Waldo counties no longer do. Confirm a parcel against the York County zone list, the Maine Opportunity Zones page, or the final list by state. A county name in the November 10 release is not a complete screen.

The 25 tracts take effect as Opportunity Zones on January 1, 2027, under Treasury’s November 5 designation announcement. Maine’s earlier zones remain in effect through the end of 2028. The next test is whether later state materials name all ten counties, including York, and whether projects, financing or permits are named for specific tracts.

Related. Maine’s designated Opportunity Zones · York County zone list · Cumberland County zone list · OZ 2.0 final list · Designated-tract map

Reporting note: Tract, rural and county counts were counted from the CDFI Fund final workbook (Maine 25 tracts, 22 Rural, 10 counties). Carry-over means the same 11-digit tract number appears on the 2018 CDFI list and the 2027 list. Town names for the York tracts, and the Brunswick assignment, are from Maine DECD, via Mainebiz, not from the federal list. The Mills release was read on maine.gov. Mainebiz published its table at 9:35 a.m. ET on November 11. The Duguay line is a paraphrase, as reported by Mainebiz, not a direct quotation. No outreach and no independently conducted interviews. Educational reporting, not tax, legal or investment advice.