Resolve, Directing the State Tax Assessor To Adjust the State Valuation for the Town of Wiscasset (AFTER DEADLINE)
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1584
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: RINES, DOW, BOWLES, CUMMINGS, RICHARDSON, EDMONDS, MAYO

Legislative Document 
No. 1584 
H.P.1l20 
House of Representatives, April 26, 2005 
Resolve, Directing the State Tax Assessor To Adjust the State 
Valuation for the Town of Wiscasset 
(AFTER DEADLINE) 
(EMERGENCY) 
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
205. 
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative RINES of Wiscasset. 
Cosponsored by Senator DOW of Lincoln and 
/J'l~ /J7. 7llac~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: BOWLES of Sanford, CUMMINGS of Portland, Speaker RICHARDSON of 
Brunswick, Senators: President EDMONDS of Cumberland, MAYO of Sagadahoc. 
Printeu l)n recycled paper 
Emergency preamble. 
Whereas, acts 
Legislature 
do 
not 
become 
effective 
adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; 
and 
resolves 
of 
the 
until 
days 
after 
and 
Whereas, the Town of Wiscasset is the host community to the 
Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, 
which owned and operated a 
nuclear electricity generating station that is currently being 
decommissioned 
and 
which 
currently 
owns 
and 
operates 
an 
independent 
storage 
facility 
for 
the 
interim 
storage 
of 
high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel generated during 
the operating lifetime of the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Station; 
and 
Whereas, 
there 
are 
fewer 
than 
decommissioned 
or 
decommissioning commercial nuclear power reactors nationwide and 
fewer 
than 
independent 
spent 
fuel 
storage 
facilities 
nationwide, most of which are located on the site of operating 
nuclear power plants, causing the valuation of those facilities 
and 
the 
real 
estate 
on 
which 
they 
are 
located 
to 
pose 
unprecedented assessment challenges; and 
Whereas, as 
a 
result 
of 
the 
amicable 
settlement 
of 
a 
property tax dispute regarding the just value of the Maine Yankee 
Atomic Power Company I s real and personal property, the Town of 
Wiscasset has 
experienced 
a 
loss of its municipal 
valuation 
related to the year 2003 municipal valuation relied upon by the 
State for purposes of establishing the 2005 state valuation, as 
determined by the 
Department of Administrative 
and Financial 
Services, 
Maine 
Revenue 
Services, 
Property 
Tax 
Division 
in 
September 2004; and 
Whereas, Maine Revenue Services, Property Tax Division has 
completed its state valuations and the appeal period for the same 
has passed; and 
Whereas, absent 
this 
special 
legislation, 
there 
is 
no 
provision for Maine Revenue Services, Property Tax Division to 
calculate an adjusted state valuation for the Town of Wiscasset 
for the 2005 state valuation; and 
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts 
create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of 
Maine 
and 
require 
the 
following 
legislation 
as 
immediately 
necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and 
safety; now, therefore, be it 
Sec. 1. State valuation for Town of Wiscasset for year 2005. 
Resolved: 
That, 
due to the loss of valuation caused by the 
settlement of a property tax dispute regarding the just value of 
the 
Page l-LR2292{1} 
independent spent fuel storage facility and the real estate on 
which it is located, notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, 
Title 36, sections 208 and 208-A, the State Tax Assessor shall 
reduce the state valuation for the Town of Wiscasset for the year 
2005 state valuation to $338,600,000. 
Emergency clause. 
In view of the emergency cited in the 
preamble, this resolve takes effect when approved. 
SUMMARY 
This resolve directs the State Tax Assessor to reduce the 
2005 state valuation for the Town of Wiscasset by approximately 
31% to $338,600,000.