Maxfield ends push to dissolve

By Kasey Turman, Bangor Daily News Staff

MAXFIELD — A small Penobscot County town will not be disbanding in the coming years after residents voted down the town’s plan to deorganize.

Residents of Maxfield, a town of 89 residents outside Howland, started the 12 steps to deorganize — the process in which a municipality ceases to be an independent town and becomes part of Maine’s Unorganized Territory — in December with the town’s first vote.

Residents voted 11-23 against continuing the dissolving process May 26 by voting down the town’s deorganizing plan, according to a post on the town’s social media.

High taxes, poor road conditions and a lack of people running for local elected positions pushed residents to take out a petition and begin the process to dissolve in 2025. Although it’s not certain how much Maxfield’s property taxes would have lowered if the town dissolved, joining Penobscot County’s Unorganized Territory would have brought needed improvements to its roads.

If a community votes against any of the 12 steps at any point in the process, it cannot start the process again for three years, meaning Maxfield residents cannot take out another petition until 2029.

Valerie Harper, who was a member of the town’s deorganizing committee, did not respond to a request for comment.

During the community’s first vote in December, Maxfield residents were unsure if dissolving was going to lower taxes, mostly because the town would have to be reassessed by the state.

Although the town was on step seven of 12, the community would have had to wait until 2029 for the deorganization to be finalized due to the lengthy timeline that includes settling all debts, leaving the regional school unit and deciding what will happen to town property.