Levant sends $29,341.68 bill to Willimantic for excise taxes

Pay up!

Officials in the Penobscot County town of Levant want a town in neighboring Piscataquis County to hand over nearly $30,000 in excise taxes.

Levant submitted a bill of $29,341.68 to the town of Willimantic this month for excise taxes collected by Willimantic.

The bill stems from excise taxes that were collected by former tax collector Jacqueline Gorey for vehicles owned solely by Malcolm McGraw, owner of Wingsong Farms of Levant.

McGraw, who owns a seasonal home on Sebec Lake in Willimantic, said earlier this year that he had been unaware he could not register vehicles in Willimantic and had done so to help out the community.

“It’s unfortunate the first dealing that our two towns have had is of this nature,” Levant Town Manager Scott Pullen said Thursday. He said he understood how hard this payment would be for Willimantic to make since budgets are so tight, but said it needs to be done.

Willimantic officials were expecting the bill, according to Selectman Susan Bennett.

A special town meeting has been set for 7 p.m. Monday, June 4, at the Town Hall. It will address this request and other town business, Bennett said Thursday.

Maine law is very specific: Maine residents must pay an excise tax for their vehicles in the town where they live unless it involves a corporation or a partnership, David Ledew, director of municipal services for the property tax division of Maine Revenue Services, said earlier this year. Those funds are supposed to be used as revenue toward the annual town budget.

Willimantic, north of Dover-Foxcroft, used the funds as revenue rather than reimbursing Levant, some 45 miles to the east.

Gorey, who has publicly acknowledged embezzling funds from the town while she was town treasurer and tax collector – not in connection with this matter – and has not yet been charged, has repaid Willimantic $33,102.11.

The first payment she made to the town of $30,000 was placed into a certificate of deposit, according to Bennett. The remainder was put into the surplus account.

Town officials will recommend to residents at the special town meeting that these funds be used to repay Levant.

Also on the warrant, residents will be asked to give selectmen authorization to negotiate contracts for snow removal and to put up the sand-salt pile.

Since there was an error in the posting of a previous special town meeting warrant for adoption of a flood plain ordinance, this matter also will be up for action.