CORRECTED DATES
The dates for the Fall Conference of the Maine Association of Assessing Officers (MAAO) were incorrectly listed in the 2008 Training Calendar printed in the January issue of the Townsman. The correct dates are September 17-19 at Atlantic Oakes in Bar Harbor.
FOREST OPERATIONS NOTIFICATIONS
Any landowner who harvests timber must file a Forest Operations Notification with the Maine Forest Service (MFS), except in certain limited circumstances. MFS provides copies of notifications to towns so that Code Enforcement Officers are aware of timber harvesting activities. This is particularly important for harvests taking place in the shoreland zone.
MFS wants to make towns aware that contact information for landowners who own less than 1,000 acres statewide is designated as confidential by state law (to protect landowners’ privacy). This means that towns may not disclose contact information for these landowners to anyone, specifically “addresses, telephone numbers and electronic mail addresses.” All other information on the Forest Operations Notification, including the landowner’s name, is a public record and may be released on request.
MFS will begin screening this information from copies of Forest Operations Notifications that it sends to the towns; however, copies received previously must have the confidential information removed if towns provide them to other parties.
For more information, contact the Maine Forest Service at 207-287-2791.
LAND CONSERVATION PROJECT
Maine towns are seeking ways to balance economic growth with land conserved for public access and wildlife habitat. To bridge the gap between good intentions and real action, the Maine Association of Conservation Commissions (MEACC) has launched an 18-month pilot project that will assist municipal leaders, conservation commissions and citizens in conserving wildlife habitat and other lands important to local citizens.
MEACC is a statewide network whose mission is to build the capacity of local communities to protect and preserve their defining natural and built resources.
“The best hope for maintaining our most important natural resources and quality places rests in our own communities and in our own hands,” said Bob Shafto, Executive Director, MEACC. “And there is momentum here and nationally as towns protect drinking water, access to open space and the sense of community they see as central to their futures.”
Shafto points to a variety of Maine towns that have committed resources to land and water conservation, including Falmouth where he lives. Others include Hollis, Saco, Brunswick, Waterboro, Parsonsfield, Sanford, Ogunquit and York. According to Shafto, these towns have bonded for conservation dollars, appropriated funds or donated interests in land. The Resource Advisory Program will help communities identify local funding options that may also leverage other public and private resources. Nationally, over the past two decades, some 1,600 local ballot measures have been approved by voters.
Funding for the project comes from a grant by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and will pay for staff to work with local communities. Shafto has hired Marcel Polak of Woodstock as Conservation Resources Advisor.
Polak was co-founder of the Andros-coggin River Watershed Council, Mahoosuc Land Trust, Androscoggin River Source to the Sea Canoe Trek and Bethel Community Conferences.
Polak will work to build awareness of the need and support for the funding of land conservation among community leaders and bring forward successful models and key resources available to Maine towns. The program expects to work closely with a half dozen communities during the pilot project, with a goal of developing best practices that can be shared statewide.
For more information on the project, contact Bob Shafto at 878-8933 or email meacc@meacc.net
Road to the White House
In early March, the National League of Cities launched “American Cities ‘08, the Road to the White House Runs Through America’s Hometowns”, a focused effort to raise the voice and concerns of cities in the ongoing presidential campaign.
For more information, go to the website www.americancities08.org.
LD 1 CONFUSION
Two recurring questions that MMA gets from municipal officials regarding the LD 1 calculation involve the time periods for the “property growth factor” and the “net new (state) funding”.
For both calculations, MMA steers municipal officials to time periods for which “information is available”. This language is found in the LD 1 statute and MMA staff believes it gives municipal officials flexibility in deciding what time periods they will use for these two calculations.
In 2008, for calendar year and fiscal year communities, the MMA LD 1 Calculation Worksheet (on the MMA website) suggests using the “new value” between April 1, 2006 and April 1, 2007. For most communities, this is the only information “available” at the time the municipal budget is being constructed and voted on. For most municipalities, the 2008 municipal assessment information is not readily available until after the budget process has been completed.
“Net new funding” applies only to State-Municipal Revenue Sharing. For calendar year and fiscal year communities, it makes sense to use “calendar year” data, rather than estimated fiscal year data. In 2008, municipalities should be looking at the revenue sharing received in calendar year 2006 and calendar year 2007. The 2006 data is adjusted by one plus the growth factor and then compared to the 2007 actual amount received. If the adjusted number is less than the 2007 number, then the difference is your “net new funding”. If your adjusted number is greater than your 2007 figure, then you have “no” net new funding.