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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1795
S.P. 697 In Senate, April 24, 2025
An Act to Change the Calculation for Municipal Service Charges for
Tax-exempt Organizations
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator MOORE of Washington. (BY REQUEST)
Cosponsored by Representative TUELL of East Machias and
Representatives: MINGO of Calais, STROUT of Harrington.
Page 1 - 132LR1030(01)
1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §508, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 627, §12, is repealed
3 and the following enacted in its place:
41. Imposition. A municipality may impose an annual service charge on the owner of
5 property that is totally exempt from property taxation under section 652, subsection 1. The
6 service charge must be calculated according to the actual cost of providing municipal
7 services to the property and to the persons who use that property, and revenues derived
8 from the charge must be used to fund, to the extent possible, the costs of those services.
9 The amount calculated must be based on the last year for which complete records of the
10 services provided exist. The municipal legislative body shall identify those institutions and
11 organizations upon which a service charge is to be levied. A municipality that imposes a
12 service charge on an institution or organization must impose a service charge on every
13 similarly situated institution or organization. For the purposes of this section, "municipal
14 services" means all services provided by a municipality other than education and welfare.
15Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §508, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 627, §12, is amended to
16 read:
172. Limitation. The total annual service charges charge levied by a municipality on
18 any institution or organization under this section may not exceed 2% 20% of the gross
19 annual revenues of assessed value of the real estate held by the institution or organization
20 in the municipality. In order to qualify for this limitation, the institution or organization
21 must file with the municipality an audit of the revenues of the institution or organization
22 for the year immediately prior to the year in which the service charge is levied. The
23 municipal officers shall abate the portion of the service charge that exceeds 2% 20% of the
24 gross annual revenues of assessed value of the real estate held by the institution or
25 organization in the municipality.
26Sec. 3. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2027.
27SUMMARY
28 This bill expands the liability of certain tax-exempt institution and organization
29 property owners to municipalities for service charges on that property. The limitation of
30 the municipality's service charge authority is changed from 2% of the institution's or
31 organization's gross revenue to 20% of the property's assessed value. These provisions take
32 effect January 1, 2027.
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