Residents in the town of Maxfield voted Monday night to begin dissolving the town's government in order to join Maine's Unorganized Territory.
Taxpayers there said they can't afford the rising cost of maintaining town infrastructure, such as road repairs estimated at more than a million dollars.
Harold "Chip" Jones, State Fiscal Administrator for the Unorganized Territory, said a revaluation of town property will need to be done.
"It is almost like you're moving away and you have to sell off all of your property and settle up with your services to ensure you don't leave a financial burden on the residents of the town or the county," Jones said.
Amber Boobar is on a five-member committee to create a plan for how the town’s services will be provided by Penobscot County. She said fixing Maxfield's roads is a priority.
"It's going to be a process but it's kind of a light at the end of the tunnel because if we were to remain Maxfield, town of, there's no way that we could get these roads taken care of as they should be," Boobar said.
The deorganization plan also involves separating from the school district. Deorganization is a 12-step process, after which residents will vote to become part of Maine's Unorganized Territory.
Read more on the process for deorganization.
Jones said he is working on resources for towns who are considering deorganization. He said he doesn't like towns to give up local control because they don't have the resources to work through it.
