To the Editor:
I commend Newcastle Selectman Pat Hudson for her political courage in speaking of the plight of town property taxpayers at a recent public meeting. Mick Devin, our State Representative, organized that meeting in February to discuss changes in our municipal property tax system.
This tax system allows some property owners – such as nonprofits – to avoid paying municipal property taxes.
Currently Governor Paul LePage is proposing changes to this tax policy. He has proposed that some non-taxable properties with greater than $500,000 valuation be taxed at half of a town’s property tax rate. Currently, about 18 percent of Damariscotta’s property is tax-exempt.
Lincoln County Healthcare fits into this category. They recently acquired both Damariscotta’s Miles Memorial and Boothbay’s St. Andrews hospitals. They have campuses in both towns and have multimillion dollar properties in Damariscotta. The tax exempt amount of the Damariscotta properties is about $330,000 a year.
Lincoln County Healthcare offers full hospital services, home health care, doctors’ offices, assisted and senior living and nursing home facilities. Their patients and employees come from a wide midcoast geographical area and they employ more than 800 people. Damariscotta, as a Lincoln County Healthcare host community, must provide the necessary infrastructure and municipal services their multiple businesses require.
Our municipal tax system is designed to function fairly when all property owners share the cost of their town government. The idea that anyone can choose not to pay, or to pay only for the municipal service that applies to them unfairly burdens the system. Although our merchants and majority of residents do not utilize all available services, their taxes pay for these services. When property owners do not pay their share of government costs, their share has to be paid by others.
Lincoln County Healthcare administers various benevolently funded charities and is legally obligated to treat all people in need of emergency care regardless of their financial status. However, it is not regulated by the Public Utilities Commission and covers necessary funding requirements by calculating the unpaid service losses and adding that to future service rates.
It is time to drop the fallacy that Lincoln County Healthcare, an organization that does tens of millions of dollars of business in Damariscotta and pays many of its professional and management employees well over $100,000 a year, requires a yearly $330,000 subsidy from Damariscotta property taxpayers.
