Those worried about the economy may have good reason.
The Tooth Fairy has been stingy for the second consecutive year, a Delta Dental poll of 1,000 children ages 6-12 with and without dental insurance found.
Parents can decide for themselves whether that’s a harbinger of poor economic times to come.
Delta Dental claims its Tooth Fairy poll, which it has conducted since 1998, has been a good barometer of the overall direction of the economy.
In 14 of the past 17 years, the company claims, the average giving by the Tooth Fairy has tracked with the movement of the S&P 500 index, both of which have declined during the past year. That index is based on the market value of the stock of 500 large public companies.
A year ago, a single lost tooth was valued at $4.13, but dropped 10 percent to $3.70 in this year’s survey. During the same timeframe, the S&P 500 decreased by 3 percent to stand at 2,596 by Jan. 11, 2019, according to Delta Dental.
Some parents are breaking the mold, though. About 37 percent of parents give their child $5 or more. And that milestone first tooth commands an average of $4.96, which is $1.26 above the $3.70 for subsequent teeth lost.
In the two decades of the poll, Delta Dental estimated that the $1.30 national average in 1998, inflation adjusted, would be $2 today.
The Tooth Fairy had the tightest pursestrings in the Midwest, where children received only $2.97 per tooth this year. The West was the highest at $4.19. The South was $3.91 and the Northeast was $3.75.
But parents everywhere need to beware. Children learn fast, and some savvy kid may hold onto a lost tooth until market conditions improve.
Low-interest loans help boost solar in rural Maine
Two environmental funding and advocacy groups have joined to bring low-cost loans to rural Maine communities that want to install solar power.
CEI of Brunswick and The Nature Conservancy of of Arlington, Virginia, are behind the effort to create more affordable financing.
One project they funded in Tremont in Hancock County will hold a ribbon cutting on Feb. 23 to show off its new solar array atop the town’s capped landfill. The array is expected to generate all of the electricity needed for the town’s municipal buildings.
Sundog Solar of Searsport installed the 153 kilowatt solar array with no upfront cost to the town. Instead, the town has a six-year lease with Tremont Solar LLC, which owns and operates the equipment.
The loan terms Tremont Solar got from CEI and The Nature Conservancy helped the solar company sell the power to the town at an attractive rate. Savings from the array are expected to reach $400,000 in electricity costs over the next 25 years.
“This solar project is a win-win for the community of Tremont,” Tremont Town Manager Christopher Saunders said in a statement. “It lowers the town’s long-term energy costs and is good for the environment.”
The two funding organizations collaborated on a similar project with Sundog Solar in Waldoboro last year. They said other projects are under consideration.
The way the loans work is that The Nature Conservancy makes small, zero-interest loans to CEI to include in its lending package to solar developers. That lets CEI charge a lower interest rate to the developer, who then can pass along that benefit to customers in the form of more attractive power purchase agreements.
In the case of Tremont, the town has the option to purchase the panels after six years.
Sundog Solar owner Chuck Piper said the structure of the loan helps lower the cost of the capital, which make a project more viable for the customer.
“A lower cost of capital trickles down to the municipality in the form of a lower cost for electricity,” he said.
Solar projects are by nature more complex investment structures, the investors said, because it can be challenging to calculate the variable pricing of the multi-year electricity costs.
“This kind of innovative finance is an investment in Maine’s future,” CEI Chief Investment Officer John Egan said. “Climate investors and partners like The Nature Conservancy can participate in creating an investment that impacts people and the planet for the long term.”
A 2017 survey of Maine municipalities conducted by The Nature Conservancy found that 68 percent said energy costs are a significant or moderate concern to their community. Some 55 percent said they are very or somewhat interested in installing solar panels on municipal buildings or property yet cite inadequate tax revenue or grant funding as impediments to moving ahead.
Other remote Maine towns and island communities are looking at alternative energy sources as well. Isle au Haut, for example, is building its own microgrid to save on oil and electricity costs, which are about double those in Bangor.
Waterville to be hub for BikeMaine
This September’s BikeMaine ride of 330-plus miles will start and end in Waterville, but take riders through a wide swath of of midcoast Maine.
Backed by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, a bicycle advocacy group based in Portland, the week-long ride from Sept. 7 to Sept. 14 creates business for the communities through which it winds. Bikers use portable showers, stay in hotels and buy food, drinks and other items.
Last year’s ride through Aroostook County’s St. John Valley pumped $742,000 into the state economy, organizers told Mainebiz.
The event, limited to 450 riders, already is sold out, but there is a waitlist on the organization’s website.
The first day is a check-in in Waterville with an opportunity to mix with other riders at Maine Beer Co.’s beer garden.
Riding starts on the official Day 1, a 53.3-mile course from Waterville to Hope via the north shore of China Lake.
Day 2 is 68 miles from Hope to Damariscotta.
Days 3 and 4 are a more leisurely 45 miles to take in the sites in the midcoast from Damariscotta to Rockland.
Day 5 is 55 miles from Rockland to Belfast.
Day 6 is the 55-mile Belfast loop through Jackson, Monroe and Searsport, then back to Belfast.
The final day’s trek is the 54.8 miles from Belfast back to Waterville.