The Maine Land Bank proposal has caught the attention of television and radio stations as well as the Maine Sunday Telegram and the Portland Press Herald, and now it is catching fire in communities throughout the State of Maine. The Maine Land Bank’s goals are simple. This innovative program will create demographic stability in a community by helping people who are committed to a place for the long haul to remain in their community – despite escalating property taxes that are frequently beyond the reach of the average citizen. This is a program for people who do not see their property as an investment, but rather as a place that helps to define who they are. This program is not for everyone, but no program ever is. To protect the general citizenry, people who choose to put their land in the Maine Land Bank will face significant penalties if they take their land out of the program. The penalties, which can amount to up top 30 percent of the purchase price, are returned to the town. But on the other hand by putting their land in the Maine Land Bank, a person is able to ensure that future generations will have the option to live in a place that means more than money. As long as a property stays in the Maine Land Bank, the owner or his successors will pay lower property taxes based on a formula similar to the current-use provisions in the state’s Tree Growth tax law.
The idea of the Maine Land Bank evolved during the spring and summer and is being fleshed out by a group of folks from Harpswell and Chebeague Island who see their communities threatened by rising property assessments based on escalating land sales that result in increased property taxes. But this is not just an island issue. Long time landowners are finding it hard to hold on to their land throughout the State of Maine.
For years Mainers have talked about ideas that would help to create community stability by providing property tax relief. The problem is all too familiar. A piece of property goes on the open market and sells for an exorbitant price. The seller leaves town with a large nest egg and his friends and relatives are left with astronomical tax bills based on their neighbor’s sale price.
It does not matter that the landowners who remain have no intention of selling. It does not matter that their families have owned the land for generations. They are victims of an outdated and convoluted tax system based on the contention that all property owners are willing sellers. As property taxes rise, more and more people are forced to sell their land and those sales result in even higher taxes for the folks who do not sell out. And so it goes, as the price of land and the associated property tax spirals out of control.
What can a citizen do to ensure that he will be able to remain in the community that he loves? Tax relief comes in various packages with various names such as conservation easement, tree growth, open space, homestead exemption and circuit breaker. While they can help, these programs do not address the real issue – rising property assessments, which are forcing people to sell and therefore change the face of our communities forever. This reaction to ill-conceived tax policy in Augusta, based on an antiquated interpretation of the Maine Constitution, results in sprawl when large tracks of land go on the market. These sales also create a demographic shift in our communities that results in a younger population base. This means more children, more teachers, more schools and increased taxes. As the spiral continues, what happens to the people who do not see their property as an investment but rather as a place that helps to define who they are?
The intrinsic value of land is hard for many Mainers of the twenty-first century to understand. At a time when the average American moves every three years, the idea of staying in one place for generations may seem archaic and outmoded, but it is an important part of what makes Maine so appealing to so many. This writer grew up with 25 or 30 other children on Great Chebeague Island in Casco Bay during the 1950s and 1960s. Nearly all of the homes I played in as a child are still owned by those same families. This is far from an island phenomenon. The Portland Evening Express celebrated the fact that Greely High School was one hundred years old in 1968 by printing a picture of six seniors who were the fifth generation of their families to graduate from Greely. The families of all of those students still live in Cumberland and North Yarmouth, along with many other old-time families.
We are on the cusp. There still many people in our Maine communities all over the state with deep roots in the special places they call home, but they are an endangered species. If we allow Maine public policy to continue to ignore the plight of one of the state’s most important resources, we will continue to eat away at the character of Maine. Mainers who want to stay put and do not regard their land as an investment need the Maine Land Bank to become the law of the land. Whether folks live in Maine’s largest city or a cabin in the great north woods, the people deserve the opportunity to stay put if they want and should not to be pushed off their land because their neighbor decides to sell out to the highest bidder. The Maine Land Bank is an idea whose time has come.
For more information about the Maine Land Bank and what you can do to help make this program become a part of Maine law, see http://home.gwi.net/mainetaxreform.
Chebeague resident Donna Miller Damon is a member of the Cumberland Town Council.