AUGUSTA — The state Senate on Thursday passed a measure that will evaluate “questionable” properties enrolled in the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law program. 

The bill, LD 1470, was sponsored by Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, who said he had “grave concerns” about whether some landowners were using the 40-year-old conservation law as a tax shelter. 

The bill directs the Maine Forest Service to randomly sample properties in Tree Growth and to report its findings to the Legislature. It passed unanimously.

Republicans said the bill was a step toward reforming a law that has come under increased scrutiny.

Several Democrats said the bill could have gone further. Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, attempted to amend the proposal to make it so some information in landowners’ confidential forest management plans would be made public. 

Jackson’s amendment was defeated on a party-line vote, 19-15. Republicans said they were willing to work with Jackson on another bill, LD 1138. 

Jackson said landowners receive significant property tax breaks in Tree Growth, yet because the plans are confidential, it’s nearly impossible to determine whether property owners are honoring an agreement that can yield a 95 percent property tax reduction.

Jackson’s claims echoed that of municipal officials who say there is little oversight in the tax abatement program and that abuses can unfairly shift the property tax burden to landowners paying full taxes.  

“As the law stands, these plans are secret and unenforceable,” Jackson said. “There’s no way to know if people are adhering to the law or if it’s being used as a shelter from paying their fair share of taxes.”

Some members of the forest products industry say the forest management plans are confidential because the agreements contain proprietary information, such as stumpage fees or harvesting schedules.

Maine Municipal Association officials, which has sought reforms in the law, believe there’s no reason smaller landowners should be allowed to shield their plans. 

Jackson’s amendment would have required new and updated harvest plans to be filed with the municipality’s assessor’s office. Propriety information, such as timber prices, would be redacted. The rest would be open for public scrutiny.

Jackson said his measure was designed to promote transparency. 

Republicans said Raye’s bill wasn’t the appropriate vehicle. 

“If not now, then when?” Jackson asked. 

Raye indicated there could be some changes to LD 1138, a bill sponsored by Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls.

Both bills were introduced last year with little fanfare. The legislation has since drifted into the spotlight following questions about whether state Treasurer Bruce Poliquin was among those property owners suspected of enrolling in the program despite having neither the ability nor the intention to harvest timber. 

Identifying scofflaws is made difficult by confidential forest management plans, which only landowners and the Maine Forest Service are allowed to see. Municipal tax assessors enforce the law. They can request the plans, but often don’t for reasons that aren’t entirely clear; some assessors have told the Sun Journal that they lack the expertise to determine whether a landowner is complying with a plan.

Others fear costly lawsuits by wealthy landowners. 

That appears to be part of the issue in Georgetown, where Poliquin’s 10 acres of Tree Growth property have come under scrutiny. Poliquin enrolled in the program in 2004 and has received thousands of dollars in property tax abatements. However, the same parcel contains a deed restriction that appears to prevent Poliquin from doing most of the activities required to qualify for Tree Growth. 

The Georgetown Board of Selectmen has so far been reluctant to examine the issue. The board is set to approve Poliquin’s application to transfer his property out of Tree Growth and into Open Space. The change would allow the treasurer to avoid paying withdrawal penalties. 

Rick Freeman, a Georgetown resident, has pressed the board for a more thorough examination. According to a March 22 letter from Freeman to the board, town officials aren’t pursuing the issue because they don’t think Georgetown would prevail in a lawsuit. 

Freeman wrote that it wouldn’t cost the town anything to review Poliquin’s management plan.

smistler@sunjournal.com

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