Official tells Greenville unorganized territory pays fair tax share

MILO – Greenville municipal officials plan to sign a letter tonight proposing to Piscataquis County commissioners and the Legislature a list of changes at the county level that would help relieve the town of its large tax burden.

Those proposals, which would shift more costs to the unorganized territory, are not supported by Doreen Sheive, the state’s fiscal administrator of the unorganized territory.

Last month, Greenville selectmen supported several proposals, among them a push to shift more of the costs of the sheriff’s department to communities that have no local police force; to capture revenue sharing that would be given to the nearby unorganized territory if it were an organized community; and to increase the fees for the administration of unorganized territory affairs from 5 percent to 10 percent. They directed Town Manager John Simko to draft a letter with the proposals for their signatures this week.

Sheive, who attended the Piscataquis County commissioners’ meeting Tuesday in Milo, distributed copies of a letter she composed in response to these proposals.

“The unorganized territory is the county’s largest taxpayer,” Sheive told commissioners Tuesday. “We pay over $1 million in county taxes.”

If the county gives special consideration to Greenville, the same consideration should be given to the unorganized territory, especially since the unorganized territory pays far more in taxes than Greenville and receives relatively few services because of its proximity, according to Sheive.

While the official figures have not been determined, Simko believes Greenville will lead the county’s organized towns in valuation and taxes next year. His intent with the proposals is to secure some tax relief for his community, he said.

Those proposals, however, will likely be hard to sell. The 5 percent administrative fee paid by the unorganized territory this year covered 35 percent of the commissioners’ total office budget, which Sheive called “very fair.”

She also noted that of the 92 townships and 63 Moosehead Lake islands, only 24 of the townships have any full-time population and the majority of those have less than 10 full-time residents. The rest receive no services from the county.

Sheive said the unorganized territory tax district receives revenue sharing funds at the state level and this money is used to reduce the tax burden throughout the entire district, so these funds are not available for use elsewhere.