Soaring taxes threaten longtime residents of Maine’s unorganized territory

By Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli, The County Staff

A recent surge in taxes on long-held generational lands and camps in the state’s unorganized territory threaten Mainers’ ability to hold on to cherished properties.

Some of the hardest hit residents have been those in vacation destinations such as along Moosehead Lake and near resort areas such as Sugarloaf ski mountain. For some landowners in these real estate hot spots, their property valuations have recently doubled or tripled, while their 2025 tax levies rose 60 percent or more. 

Much of Maine has been hit by similar challenges in recent years, driven by a spike in demand for homes and land that was exacerbated by remote workers relocating to the state during the COVID pandemic. The effects on the unorganized territory stand out given how remote, rural and working class it is, and given that much of it is away from the coastal parts of Maine that have traditionally drawn affluent out of staters.

The territory, which runs from parts of northernmost Aroostook County to the New Hampshire border, consists of 429 townships — including the Baxter State Park area and coastal islands — that do not lie within municipal bounds. There are about 9,000 year-round residents in the territory, with many more living in these remote locations seasonally. 

People living in the territory do not get municipal services such as trash removal, transportation or emergency rescue like those in surrounding towns or cities. 

Maine’s Property Tax Division is responsible for maintaining, assessing and collecting property taxes — similar to a municipal tax assessor — in the territory, with 700 tax maps as well as 23,769 real estate and 814 personal property tax accounts.

Earlier in September, nearly 100 disgruntled owners of unorganized territory property packed into the Rockwood Community Center in Somerset County for an informational meeting with representatives of Maine Revenue Services. 

Rep. Elizabeth Caruso, R-Caratunk, hosted the meeting, giving landowners an opportunity to understand how and why their tax bill was calculated, she said.  

Attendees were not shy about expressing concerns and discontent. They shared similar stories, and many suggested they were being taxed out of their homes and camps because of recent property revaluations and escalating taxes, according to Harford’s Point property owner Keith Smith and a video of the entire meeting posted by Caruso. 

Some spoke of small generational camps, often with no plumbing or electricity, situated along miles of dirt road. Others, on fixed incomes, have lived in their modest homes year round. Nearly all saw their property values more than double and tax levies rise by 50, 60 or 75%. 

During the meeting, one man shared the story of a home his grandmother purchased for $90,000, with taxes holding stable over the years at $1,200. But now, with recent changes, the home is valued at $800,000 and taxes are close to $9,000 a year, he said. 

“This isn’t just crunching numbers. These are real people who are suffering and some are taking out loans to pay taxes,” said Caruso, who thinks state law needs to be changed to give them some relief.

The huge migration of out of staters who bought up land in the territory during and after the COVID pandemic dramatically changed the real estate landscape in Maine’s most rural and remote locations, Caruso said. With different income and wealth levels as Mainers, they can pay much more than locals can.

“It is horrible what it is doing to our Mainers who are on a fixed income, who are on Social Security or who have a camp that they bought years ago when they could afford it,” Caruso said. “Now their taxes are beyond their budget through no doing of their own.” 

For the second time in five years, properties in the territory, which makes up about half of Maine’s land, were revalued by the Maine Revenue Services earlier this year. 

While updated values varied by region, they were based on property sales, construction and other related costs, said Sharon Huntley, a spokesperson for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. 

Keith Smith, who is now retired, lives along Moosehead Lake in a home he and his wife, Valorie Smith Starbird, started building in 2002. Often working multiple jobs, the couple devoted several years to creating their lakefront retirement property.

But now, with their land — one undeveloped lot off the water and another with 113 feet of water frontage — and modest home and garage valued at nearly $800,000, the Harford’s Point couple faces soaring tax bills from the state. According to Smith, they rose 60 percent over last year, from $2,336.83 to $3,904.26.

Their two small parcels, just under an acre, along with their home, went from a 2024 valuation of $365,140 to $795,780.  

“What’s the justification?” Smith asked. “I don’t mind paying taxes, but what are we paying taxes for?”

In a letter to Smith, Heather Priest, chief of operations for Maine Senate Republican Office, attributed the spike to his location. 

“Your property tax increase is mostly attributable to the fact that waterfront property always disproportionately increases in market value because there’s not more of it being made and people are willing to pay a lot for a slice of lake life,” Priest said. 

Not all residents of the territory have been hit by the big valuation and tax increases. 

Argyle Township property owner Kat Taylor’s valuation rose from $139,820 in 2024 to $185,970 this year. Because she lives on a modest retirement income, Taylor worried her taxes would also jump. But Penobscot County’s mill rate dropped from .00909 in 2024 to .00652 this year, raising her annual tax bill by just $57.96. 

Taylor was relieved, but still believes that inflated sales figures have driven the costs of living in the unorganized territory beyond the reach of most locals looking for affordable property.

Huntley, from Maine Revenue Services, said the unorganized territory taxes are based on three factors: state services, county services and county taxes. 

The rate for state services is the cost of those services divided by the valuation of all unorganized territories. The rates for both the county services and county tax are the cost divided by the valuation of each county’s portion of territory. The total mill rate for each county is calculated by adding these three separate rates, Huntley said. 

The cost of state services is voted on by the Legislature after public hearings and work sessions. County services and taxes are approved by elected county commissioners. 

The problem is the way the law is written, which requires everyone to be assessed in an equal manner according to the just value, according to Caruso. 

She argued that many everyday Mainers won’t be able to keep up with their elevated taxes. 

Caruso and others point to new legislation as the only remedy.  Caruso talked of several possibilities including a system that helps longtime residents similar to the existing Homestead Exemption. 

“We are talking about proposing legislation and I think it’s an emergency,” Caruso said. “We have to do something.”