CARY PLANTATION, Maine — The town of Cary is one step closer to dissolving as a municipality after the state Legislature approved the community’s request to deorganize.
Tina Libby, chairman of the Cary deorganization committee, said Monday that after the Legislature approved LD 780 “An Act Authorizing the Disorganization of Cary Plantation.” the bill sat on Gov. Paul LePage’s desk and went unsigned.
The bill became law on April 21 without the governor’s signature.
The town now must hold a final referendum vote in November to complete the process. Two-thirds of the residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election, or 49 voters, will need to approve deorganizing to make the move final.
If approved by residents, Cary Plantation would then have to liquidate its assets and account for its debts before becoming “Cary Township” and joining the state’s Unorganized Territory. According to Libby, those assets are few and involve only a small storage building and a piece of tax-acquired property.
“We need to finish the culverts and grade the Skedgel Road, and fix the undermining on the double culverts on the Wilcox Road,” she said. “I am not sure of the cost, but we appropriated about $85,000 for it.
She added the town plans to work on the Skedgel Road as soon as the frost is out and the ice melt lessens. “The work on the Wilcox Road will take longer as crews will have to wait until the water level drops low enough to get in there and take a look,” she said.
With a population of 189, Cary residents sought to deorganize because of its dwindling numbers and increasing municipal costs.
When Rep. Roger Sherman, R-Hodgdon, testified this February in favor of the bill that he sponsored on behalf of Cary Plantation residents, he said they were paying a tax rate of $30 per $1,000 of valuation.
Residents of the UT in Aroostook County rely on The County and state for public services and were assessed a $6.47 mill rate in 2016.
