Madrid voters approve plan to deorganize town

MADRID — By the narrowest of margins, voters have approved a plan to deorganize this 163-year-old Maine town and turn local government over to the state.

The 76-38 vote Tuesday provided the exact two-thirds majority required under state law for the results to be binding.

“We did it twice, and it came out exactly the same both times,” said Town Clerk Joan Carroll.

“You talk about democracy and how one vote makes a difference — well, there you go,” said Gary Perlson, a member of the deorganization committee and the local school committee.

Deorganization is set to take place next July, making this Franklin County town one of Maine’s more than 400 unorganized territories.

“There will be those that will be crying in their beer and those that will celebrate,” said election clerk Terry Wing, who stoked the fires in the two wood stoves in the basement of the old Madrid Schoolhouse as he watched the ballot box.

Opponents of the change said they were loath to turn local control of roads, education and taxation over to the state. But supporters said that was a small price to pay for the financial benefits of slicing their tax rate in half at a time when Madrid’s tax base is shrinking.

The state will decide where voters cast their ballots during the next election, but it won’t likely be the old schoolhouse. That building will be turned over to a nonprofit historical society.

The rest of the town’s property must be auctioned to the highest bidder, the proceeds being used to pay off any municipal debts.

Voters and town officials have worked deliberately for more than two years on deorganization, a complex process that requires a series of public hearings and votes.

Carroll said the turnout Tuesday was bigger than in the general election of 1992.

“Not even the president gets as much attention as this did,” Wing said. “Then again, this is probably more important than the president.”