LD 1536
pg. 2
Page 1 of 6 An Act To Reduce Property Taxes by Reforming County Government Page 3 of 6
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LR 1756
Item 1

 
B.__Ten percent of the voters in a proposed county district
may petition to form a county district. The petitions must
be prepared by the Secretary of State and require the same
safeguards as petitions filed under the Constitution of
Maine, Article 4, Part Third.

 
2.__Election to consider formation; question; termination of
counties.__When the Secretary of State receives notice of an
authorizing vote by the county commissioners pursuant to
subsection 1, paragraph A or verifies that the petitions
submitted pursuant to subsection 1, paragraph B contain the
required number of valid signatures calling for the approval of a
district county, the Secretary of State shall prepare the ballots
and have the question of approval placed on the ballot at the
next general election.__The question put to the voters must be:
"Shall (list the included counties) form a new county district?"__
If a majority of the voters in the proposed county district vote
in favor of the formation of the county district, those counties
cease to exist as separate governmental entities on the July 1st
following approval.

 
3.__Transition.__If the formation of a county district is
approved pursuant to subsection 2, the county commissioners from
each of the counties contained in the county district shall
convene the January immediately following the vote to appoint a
charter commission.__The charter commission must include at least
5 registered voters from each of the counties contained in the
county district.__If the vote to approve the county district was
initiated pursuant to subsection 1, paragraph B, at least 1/3 of
those appointed to the charter commission must be chosen from the
voters who actively circulated the petitions to approve the
county district.__The charter commission shall develop a proposed
charter and put it before the voters of the county district in
the next general or statewide election.__If the charter is not
approved, the charter commission shall make necessary changes and
put the revised charter to vote at the next general or statewide
election until the charter is approved. Upon approval of the
charter, the county district may levy fees and receive state
assistance available to counties that combine their services.

 
4.__Governance of county district.__The county commissioners
of the counties forming the county district approved pursuant to
subsection 2 shall govern the county district until the
Legislature creates 3 voting districts in the county district.__
New county district commissioners must be elected in the
statewide or general election following formation of the voting
districts, with one county district commissioner elected from
each voting district.__County district commissioners serve for a
term of office of 3 years except for the county district


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