Greenville board signs 2026 county tax papers

GREENVILLE — While the town is exploring ways to reduce its share of the Piscataquis County tax, the Greenville Select Board formally signed the 2026 assessor’s return for the county tax during a Jan. 21 meeting.

This year the community will be paying $833,879 or 13.26% of the Piscataquis County tax.

This contribution is the highest among the 18 towns and plantations, Select Chair Geno Murray said. After Greenville, Dover-Foxcroft has the next highest amount as the community will pay $771,247 to the county (12.27%).

“It’s a pretty straightforward process unfortunately, and I know we have had previous discussions on how to reduce our county tax,” Murray said, mentioning the Tax Increment Financing district process was one method.

TIF districts will shelter new construction and development from the state assessed value which trickles down to the county tax and keeps the bill down for Greenville residents.

In 2025 Greenville paid $797,884 in county, with this year’s amount being a near $36,000 increase.

“It still never ceases to amaze me what a puddle of water can do,” Selectperson Burt Whitman said, with  Moosehead Lake shoreland properties being a key factor in the town’s high valuation.

“It certainly has many benefits but it also has some liabilities as it relates to fiscal tax and the school budget,” Murray added.

This year’s county budget totals just over $7.1 million. This figure is up by nearly $325,000 (4.78%) from 2025’s $6,794,951.

After applying $933,601 in county revenues, a net amount of $6,186,333 needs to be raised proportionally through taxes across the 18 towns and plantations.

In other business, Town Manager Mike Roy asked the board to think about roads in need of work that can be included in a request for proposals he is drafting. The RFP includes work to repair damage from a December 2023 storm with FEMA funds, and Roy was given the go-ahead to work on this.

“We all know there will be only so much money in the budget and we work to keep that as tight as we can but there are also steady complaints about streets and roads,” Roy said. Options such as full reconstruction or reclaiming and resurfacing need to be considered.

In his report Roy said a notice for budget committee members has been posted and so far there has been one response for the group set to meet weekly in March, April and May to develop a budget for the annual town meeting in early June.

Three responses have come in for a TIF committee, including someone with professional experience, Roy said.

“We are advertising 5,7-ish top, we don’t want it to be too big,” he said about the size of the committee.

Roy, Code Enforcement Officer Tim Post and Planning Board Chair John Contreni met with Northern Forest Center representatives the previous day on the forthcoming housing project off Spruce Street.

“It is a go,” Roy said in clearing up any confusion around town as board members had site plan copies in front of them.

The town side of water and sewer infrastructure work is scheduled to start May 1.

The Northern Forest Center hopes to have the first two of 28 housing units up by the fall.

“I think it’s a great plan, the snowmobile trail will still be there,” Roy said.

The Northern Forest Center purchased 5 acres of land downtown off Spruce Street and plans to build housing to serve the local workforce. The housing project plan seeks to develop nearly 30 units that incorporate a mix of multi-family buildings, duplexes and single-family homes to be built over three years. The Northern Forest Center Center hopes to use the project to demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of utilizing mass timber construction. The project has an estimated $11.5 million cost.

The Spruce Street development will be the Northern Forest Center’s sixth housing project and the first to be built from the ground up. The project will focus on providing housing for the middle-income, year-round workforce and building the sustainability of the Moosehead Lake region’s year-round economy. Greenville’s high rate of second homes and absentee homeowners has left few options for locals or people trying to move to the community, raising concerns about maintaining school enrollment, civic participation and vital services. 

The Northern Forest Center uses a mix of funding sources to achieve its goal of creating high quality housing that can be rented or sold at rates that median-income earners can afford. Sources include the Northern Forest Fund — which integrates private impact investments, donations and grants from public sources — and grants and donations specifically for this project.

The Northern Forest Center is an innovation and investment partner serving the Northern Forest of northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. In 2017 programming expanded to include redeveloping underused properties to enable young professionals and families to find homes and contribute.