unincorporated town

[Northern Maine Land Man]

By the way, some Unorganized Townships have very good fire departments. I can't provide an accurate list, but Rockwood over on Moosehead Lake and Kingman on the Mattawamkeag River immediately come to mind.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

By the way, some Unorganized Townships have very good fire departments. I can't provide an accurate list, but Rockwood over on Moosehead Lake and Kingman on the Mattawamkeag River immediately come to mind.

Neat, do you have any idea of how they are funded?

Are they forestry department or logging concerns?

[Northern Maine Land Man]

They get some subsidies from their counties, but mostly they scrounge around and get used equipment donated from bigger departments. Kingman got a good pumper through a federal grant. Some large logging companies have portable pumps and hose on one or more pickups.

[7th generation]

We have had an issue with Mason Township regarding services. The close proximity to Sunday River Ski Area, has brought people from away to build a lot of expensive second homes there. The town of Bethel supplies fire coverage and the state only pays a percentage of the costs incurred. This one example threatens the way these unorganized areas are taxed.
the state will be reviewing the tax situation and hopefully won't change the structure. I can see Bethel's stand but then again a lot of the unorganized areas around here don't have the personal income to support services and the population base is small.

[enloopious]

An incorporated town or city is exactly what it sounds like, it is a corporation or legal fiction just like any other business that can offer services like police, fire department, social services, parking meters, tolls, fines, etc. Incorporated towns are privately owned and you can look up the ownership of your town on manta.com.

Unincorporated towns do not have licensing, zoning, or any of the stuff generally associated with corporations, bylaws, or statutory laws. They fall under the larger general jurisdiction of the state law or common law depending on your status. They can have town meetings or what ever they want. It all depends on their level of organization.

http://www.manta.com/c/mt4zt5b/state-of-maine

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"Unincorporated towns do not have licensing, zoning, or any of the stuff generally associated with corporations, bylaws, or statutory laws."

Not quite. They have licensing and more zoning than many towns that have no local zoning at all.

"They fall under the larger general jurisdiction of the state law or common law depending on your status."

Unincorporated townships are governed by the state Property owners in those townships pay property taxes to the state. The state arranges to educate any students living there, arranges to have public roads plowed and arranges for fire protection.

"They can have town meetings or what ever they want. It all depends on their level of organization."

Some incorporated towns have voluntarily given up their land management to the state. Those towns prefer to be ruled by LURC. All it takes is a majority at a special town meeting. This could be five people and everybody in town loses their freedom.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.