Limestone voters to decide on back tax payments at special town meeting|
LIMESTONE, Maine – Limestone officials will soon schedule a special town meeting for residents to vote on numerous items, including the payment of over $50,000 to the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid employment taxes.
Town officials learned in October that the IRS is billing the town a total of $52,007. That includes a tax lien of $41,879 that the state has placed on Limestone, covering under and unpaid employment taxes and related interest and penalties. Other tax bills include those for $4,877, $972, $2,009 and $564, spanning from November 2021 to June 2023.
Residents must authorize the town to spend the $52,007 before the IRS can be paid, said Interim Town Manager Alan Mulherin on Wednesday. Mulherin has been speaking with the IRS on potential waivers for penalties and fees, which total $29,000. But the town needs to first authorize spending $54,000, which will cover the $52,007 total, Mulherin said.
In related news, Mulherin said that so far he has not found a payroll company that can complete the town’s payroll and input data into TRIO, the payroll and tax software that the town uses. But there is a Presque Isle company looking into possibly providing those services, given that many Maine towns use TRIO, Mulherin said.
The Select Board encouraged Mulherin to continue pursuing payroll company options for the town.
“We don’t want this to happen again,” said board member Irma Labreck, referring to the IRS payments.
Mulherin has not yet set a date and time for the special town meeting. He said that the food sale ordinance will be posted no fewer than 10 days prior to the meeting. The town typically posts special meeting warrants no fewer than seven days prior, he said.
Residents will also vote on whether they want the highway department to spend no more than $260,000 on a new plow truck.
The Select Board voted Wednesday to move $190,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the highway department’s reserve account to go toward the truck purchase.
That means the town will only need to make up the difference of $70,000, which will come from the reserve account, Mulherin said.
Highway Foreman Spencer Keiser said that his crew has been repairing the department’s three plow trucks for this winter but will be in great need for a newer truck next winter. The oldest truck was purchased in 2005.
Keiser has found that a new or recently used plow truck could cost between $240,000 and $260,000 depending on whether the truck already has its own plow and other parts on hand.
“This is the time of year when people are getting ready to make their purchases. The sooner we can act, the better,” Keiser said.
Other warrant articles will ask residents if they want to allow the following actions:
- Move $50,000 from the town’s undesignated fund balance to a reserve account for a full tax revaluation
- Move $10,000 in ARPA funds to the town’s administration account to install new drain tiles and a second layer of drainage to prevent water from entering the town office basement;
- Approve the sale or lease of Trafton Lake Campground to a prospective new owner or leaser;
- Approve the town’s final purchase of a solar project that they and Maine School of Science and Mathematics have signed onto;
- Approve a new ordinance allowing food grown inside Limestone Community School’s greenhouse to be sold to the public, in accordance with Maine’s Food Sovereignty Act.
