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A Newsletter by the City of Saco, Maine	September, 2008	Return to newsletter index

Oil, Energy, and Tax Rebate Expo a success

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The following are the results of the Oil, Energy and Tax Rebate Expo held in Saco recently. This was an effort by city and state officials to help local residents cope with recent economic events. The results are reported by State Rep. Linda Valentino.

1. ATTENDENCE - Overall attendance by the public was est. at 75 to 90 people.
2. LiHEAP - 43 people or couples signed up to have LiHEAP applications taken.
   • a. York County Community Action (YCCA) had two (2) people taking applications. They started at 3:00 and ended at 7:20 PM
   • b. YCCA completed 33 applications, made appointments for 6 people to come in to their office at another date, and had 4 people leave when they realized that they did not have proper paperwork with them to fill out form.
3. CIRCUIT BREAKER FORMS - 14 people signed up to have Maine Revenue Services complete forms for them.
   • a. 10 people qualified for property tax rebates and completed forms
   • b. 4 people talked with Agent and took forms home to complete
4. AARP - filled out 10 forms for Seniors to receive $300 Economic Stimulus Payment from Federal Government
5. UNCLAIMED PROPERTY - (this was a bonanza for people!)
   • a. Treasurer searched 119 names in computer.
   • b. They returned $4,356.41 to Saco residents on that day by completing forms to authorize Treasurer to send them the money
   • c. One person had over $2,000 that was unclaimed
   • d. Plus, we called one person on list and reunited him with $4,000 and another person who had $700. These people were going to fill out forms online.
   • e. That is almost $9,000 total!
6. MSHA - Staff told us that in 4 hours there was only about 15 minutes that they were not out straight talking to people about loans for weatherization, furnaces, etc.
7. BEST CASE EXAMPLE - One elderly woman who was waiting with a friend decided to see if she qualified for anything and she walked out thrilled! She qualifed for LiHEAP, a Circuit Breaker refund, the $300 rebate from Feds, plus she had money on the unclaimed property list! Over $2,000 total!
8. The total benefits brought to people attending this Expo is estimated at $40,000.

Now that is helping people.