An Act To Amend the Law Authorizing the Application of Service Charges to the Owners of Certain Real Property Exempt from Property T~xation
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1290
Sponsors: MARRACHE, WATSON, GOOLEY, MILLS, SIMPSON, COHEN, CROCKETT
Amends: 36 MRSA §508

MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE 
The following document is provided by the 
LAW AND LEGISLATIVE DIGITAL LIBRARY 
at the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library 
http://legislature.maine.gov/lawlib 
Reproduced from scanned originals with text recognition applied 
(searchable text may contain some errors and/or omissions) 
(j 
, 
\ 
\~/ 
'''''''''=E ' n, 
~" I,'" ," 
H ,\~ oI1 Q I r~F)" A'" 
Y f J't G l,h, VV t"i2!;:-UAt. , 
#-j~' 11("7l 
'~.{l ~ ;"1"> 
J"uCl}~.v j d
j l'~[dW.ji~ 
124thMAI ELEGISLATURE 
FIRST REGULAR SESSlor..J~2009 
Legislative Documen't 
No. 1290, 
S.P.472 
In Se~ate, March 31, 
An Act To Amend the Law Authorizing the Application of Service 
Charges to the Owners of Certain Real Property Exempt from 
Property T~xation 
Reference to the Committee on Taxation sugg~sted and ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator MARRACHE of Kennebec. 
Cosponsored by Representative WATSON of Bath and 
9tfP~ 
'JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Senators: GOOLEY of Franklin, McCORMICK of Kennebec, MILLS of Somerset; PERRY of 
Penobscot, SIMPSON of Androscoggin, Representatives: CHASE 6fWelis, COHEN of 
Portland, CROCKETT of Augusta. 
Pri.l1ted on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People ofthe State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §508, sub-§l, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 627, § 12, is repealed 
and the following enacted in its place: 
' 1. Imposition. A municipality may impose service charges on certain types of tax-
exempt real property identified in subsection I-A. 
Such service charges must be 
calculated according to the actual cost of providing municipal services to that real 
propeliy and to the persons who use that propeliy, and revenues derived frOID the charges 
must be used tofund the costs of those services. A municipal ordinallce must identify the 
institutions and organizations upon which service charges are to be levied. 
A 
municipality that imposes service charges on an institution or organization must impose 
II 
'those service charges on every similarly situated institution or organization in its 
jurisdiction. For the purposes of this section, "municipal services" means fire protection 
services and municipal fire hydrant fees; police protection services; and road-related 
services including road and bridge maintenance and construction, traffic control and snow 
and ice removal. 
' 
A municipality may calCulate the service charges it imposes pursuant to this subsection 
by determining the proportion of the total budgeted cost of providing the identified 
services by the municipality that should be reasonably borne by tax-exempt institutions or 
organizations based on the following: 
A. 
For fire protection services and municipal fire hydrant fees and for police 
protection services, the square footage of the developed tax-exempt propeiiy relative 
to the total square footage of developed property in the municipality; and 
B. 
For road-related services, the linear public road mileage that the tax-exempt 
property abuts relative to the total linear road mileage of the municipalitY. 
-Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §508, sub-§l-A is enacted to read: 
I-A. 
Application. 
Tax-exempt real propeliy to which service charges under 
subsection 1 may be' applied is: 
A. 
Residential property, other than student housing or parsonages, that is totally 
exempt from taxation under section 652 and that is used to provide rental income; 
B. Real property totally exempt from taxation under section 652 that has an assessed 
value that exceeds $1,000,000; and 
C. 
Property owned by an organization or institution that is totally exempt from 
taxation under 
s~ction 652 that has grbss annual revenues related to that 
organization's or institution's activities within the municipality that exceed 
$1,00'0,000. 
Sec. 3. 36 MRSA §508, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 627, § 12, is amended 
to read: ' 
2. Limitation. The total service charges levied by a municipality on any institution 
or organization under this section may not exceed 2% of the gross annual revenues of the 
) 
) 
) 
(j 
. 
) 
~j. 
institution or organization. For an institution or organization that owns real property in 2 
or more municipalities, the total service charges levied by all municipalities may not 
exceed 2% of the gross annual revenues of the institution or organization as reasonably 
prorated or allocated with respect to the institution's or organization's real property that is 
located within the municipality where the service charges are established. In order to 
qualify for this limitation, the institution or organization must file with the municipality 
an audit of the revenues of the institution or organization for the year immediately prior 
to the year in which the service charge is levied, along with all information to suppOli any 
proration or allocation of those revenues as may be necessary. The municipal officers 
shall abate the pOliion of the service charge that exceeds 2% of the gross annual revenues 
of the institution or organ ization or the prorated or allocated pOliion of those reven ues, as 
applicable. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the laws regarding the municipal assessment of service charges to 
celiain tax-exempt institutions. 
1. It narrows. the list of the types of municipal services that may be considered in the 
application of service charges tq include just fire protection services, police protection 
services and road-related services. 
2. It sets out a methodology for calculating the appropriate service charge for each 
servIce. 
3. It expands the list of tax-exempt institutions that may be subject to service charges 
to include those illstitutions that own property that has an assessed value of $1 ,000,000 or 
more. and institutions that generate gross annual revenues related to those institutions' 
activities within the municipality that exceed $1,000,000.