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An Act To Provide a Definition of "Primary Residence" for Purposes of Property Tax Abatements Based on Hardship or Poverty
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §841, sub-§2, as repealed and replaced by PL 2013, c. 424, Pt. A, §24, is amended to read:
 
2. Hardship or poverty.   The municipal officers, or the State Tax Assessor for the unorganized territory, within 3 years from commitment, may, on their own knowledge or on written application, make such abatements as they believe reasonable on the real and personal taxes on the primary residence of any person who, by reason of hardship or poverty, is in their judgment unable to contribute to the public charges. The municipal officers, or the State Tax Assessor for the unorganized territory, may extend the 3-year period within which they may make abatements under this subsection.
 
As used in this subsection, "primary residence" means the home, appurtenant structures necessary to support the home and acreage sufficient to satisfy the minimum lot size as required by the municipality's land use or building permit ordinance or regulations or, in the absence of any municipal minimum lot size requirement, as required by Title 12, section 4807-A.
 
Municipal officers or the State Tax Assessor for the unorganized territory shall:
 
A. Provide that any person indicating an inability to pay all or part of taxes that have been assessed because of hardship or poverty be informed of the right to make application under this subsection;
 
B. Assist individuals in making application for abatement;
 
C. Make available application forms for requesting an abatement based on hardship or poverty and provide that those forms contain notice that a written decision will be made within 30 days of the date of application;
 
D. Provide that persons are given the opportunity to apply for an abatement during normal business hours;
 
E. Provide that all applications, information submitted in support of the application, files and communications relating to an application for abatement and the determination on the application for abatement are confidential. Hearings and proceedings held pursuant to this subsection must be in executive session;
 
F. Provide to any person applying for abatement under this subsection, notice in writing of their decision within 30 days of application; and
 
G. Provide that any decision made under this subsection include the specific reason or reasons for the decision and inform the applicant of the right to appeal and the procedure for requesting an appeal.
 
For the purpose of this subsection, the municipal officers may set off or otherwise treat as available benefits provided to an applicant under chapter 907 when determining if the applicant is able to contribute to the public charges.
 
Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 128th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.