Opinion ID: 4426955
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: conclusion

Text: [¶41] For the reasons stated above, the court did not err by concluding that the 2016 records do not fall within any exception to FOAA’s definition of public records and therefore are subject to inspection and copying by the public. See 1 M.R.S. §§ 402(3), 408-A. Nor did the court err by determining that Hearing on L.D. 1627 Before the J. Standing Comm. on Taxation, 126th Legis. (2014) (testimony of Scott Beal of Woodland Pulp LLC; testimony of Alan Withee, Accountant at Texas Instruments, Inc.). The confidentiality provision of section 706 appears to have represented an effort to address those concerns and encourage businesses to be less reticent to submit valuation information to the tax assessor. The County also contends that the court erred by not ordering DAFS and MRS to provide it with 20 a version of the 2017 records with the confidential portions redacted. Because the confidentiality provision of section 706 applies to all the information contained in the 2017 records, however, the redaction of the confidential information would result in a record with no information remaining. Therefore, the court did not err by impliedly declining to order that redacted copies of the 2017 records be provided to the County. 27 the 2017 records comprise clearly labeled proprietary information protected by section 706 from disclosure pursuant to FOAA. See id. § 402(3)(A). The entry is: Judgment affirmed. William H. Dale, Esq. (orally), and Mark A. Bower, Esq., Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry, Portland, for appellant Somerset County Gordon R. Smith, Esq. (orally), Verrill Dana, LLP, Portland, for cross-appellant Blue Sky West, LLC Aaron M. Frey, Attorney General, and Thomas A. Knowlton, Asst. Atty. Gen. (orally), Office of the Attorney General, Augusta, for appellees Department of Administrative and Financial Services and Maine Revenue Services Kennebec County Superior Court docket number CV-2017-96 FOR CLERK REFERENCE ONLY