LEWISTON – Some Maine towns are being overpaid and some underpaid in a state tax reimbursement program that compensates landowners for maintaining woodlands.

In the most extreme cases, the town of Allagash was overpaid by more than $200,000, while Freeport was shorted by more than $31,000.

State revenue officials acknowledge mistakes were made in calculating the reimbursements towns received under the so-called tree growth program. The errors have caused some confusion and frustration in towns that were overpaid or shorted.

“We made an error in the calculation,” said David Ledew, director of the state property tax division. “We sent too much money to some towns and not enough to others. Once it was caught, we realized we had overreimbursed about 114 municipalities in the state.”

The state has told towns it overpaid to return the extra money within 30 days. Underpaid towns have not been notified.