An Act To Aid Municipalities and. the Unorganized Territory in tbe Reduction of Property Taxes . Reference to the Conimittee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed.
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 0788
Sponsors: CHASE, HILL, KNIGHT, LANGLEY, ROSEN, WATSON
Amends: 30-A MRSA §5686

MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE 
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124th MAl E LEGISLATURE 
Legislative Document 
No. 788 
H.P.539 
House of Representatives, .Febmary26, 2009 
An Act To Aid Municipalities and. the Unorganized Territory in tbe 
Reduction of Property Taxes 
. Reference to the Conimittee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative CHASE of Wells. 
Cosponsored by SenatorNASS of York and 
'7JI4~ 1?7.1l/!LC~{ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: HILL of York, KNIGHT of LivemlOre Falls, LANGLEY of Ellsworth, 
ROSEN of Bucksport, WATSON of Bath. 
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Printed on recycled pilper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §5686 is enacted to read: 
§5686. Local sales tax increment disbursement 
1. Locafsales tax increment. Beginning in fiscal year 201 0-11, the State Tax 
Assessor shall gather ~md maintain infOImation that demonstrates the amount of revenue 
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and the amount of local sales tax increment for each fiscal year that is attributable to each 
. municipality and the unorganized territory under Title 36, Part 3. For the purposes of this . 
section, "local sales tax increment" means 10% of the increase in revenue attributable to a 
municipality or the unorganized territory under Title 36, Part 3 over the' amount 
attributable to the municipality or the unorganized territory in fiscal year 2010-11. 
2. Transfers. Beginning in fiscal year 2011-12, the State Tax Assessor shall certify 
to the State Controller by September 30th annually the local sales tax increment amounts 
needed to make payments under this section. The State Controller shall, within 15 days 
after the certification, transfer those amounts to a local sales tax increment account, 
which must be established for this purpose. 
23. 
3. Payments to municipalities and the unorganized territory. The Treasurer of 
State shall pay by October 1 st annually to each inunicipalityand the Unorganized 
Territory Education and Services Fund under Title 36, section 1605, from the local sales 
tax increment account established pursuant to subsection 2 an amount equal to the local 
sales tax increment. If the local sales tax· increment fora municipality or the unorganized 
territory is $0 or less, a payment may not be made for that fiscal year. The State Treasurer 
shall pay the amount due under this section and provide an accounting ofthe amount to 
the municipality or the fiscal administrator. ofthe unorganized territory no later than 6 
months after the end of that fiscal year. The amount received under this section by a 
municipality or the fund may not reduce or be reduced by any other revenue sharing or 
state aid received by the municipality or the fund. An amount received by a municipality 
or the fund under this section must be used by the municipality or, for the unorganized 
territory, the Maine Land Use Regulation -Commission,. to_reduce property tax levies in 
that municipality or the unorganized territory in an amount equal to the amount received 
in the fiscal year that the revenue is received. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides that, beginning in fiscal year 2010-11, 10% of sales tax revenue 
growth, which is the increase in sales tax revenue for that fiscal year over the amount of 
revenue generated in fisca.CYear ~Ol o~ If, musf be refiiined"t() the municipality or 
unorganized territory where the growth occurred. The municipality or unorganized 
territory must use the amount received to reduce property tax levies. 
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