CARIBOU, Maine — Organizers of a secession effort that would create Maine’s newest town if successful released a 54-page report Wednesday outlining more details about their plan and expressing their dismay at being treated as second class citizens just because they live in a rural area.
The five-member Caribou Secession Committee first announced plans last summer to cleave 80 percent from the existing area of Caribou to create the town of Lyndon.
The committee has since gathered and submitted the necessary signatures to force a public hearing Thursday night as part of the next step in the secession process.
The process requires the committee to submit during the hearing a report containing detailed figures about the economic effect the move would have on the new town and the municipality from which it would secede.
In the report given to the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday, but embargoed until Thursday morning for public release, the committee members point to a “strong resentment toward the rural community” on the part of Caribou city government as a catalyst for their action.
The report states there is an unequal delivery of municipal services in Caribou and overly restrictive land use regulations that use “discriminatory and blatantly biased language that relegates rural citizens to second class citizens.”
Attempts to reach Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
The report will be presented during a public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.
According to the document, 2,612 people out of Caribou’s total population of 8,189 live in the area under consideration for secession. Caribou’s total valuation is $140.3 million, and the city has a current mill rate of 22.3.
According to the report, 31 percent of Caribou’s rural population lives in what would become Lyndon and pays 40 percent of all property taxes collected in Caribou while receiving less than half the services enjoyed by those living in the urban area.
Committee members believe if they are allowed to secede and form Lyndon, they can provide all necessary services with a mill rate of 15.9 that would generate $2.8 million in revenues to fund education, road maintenance, emergency services and waste disposal.
“The complete report answers a lot of questions that people have,” Paul Camping, committee spokesman, said Wednesday. “We put in a lot more [into the report] than is required by law.”
The report claims that those residents in what would become Lyndon are “land rich and cash poor” and could pay 28 percent less in property taxes if they split off.
“Taxes are the symptoms of the illness that has gripped Caribou,” Camping said. “That illness is we lack the ability for any meaningful participation in our local government.”
That loss of participation happened 48 years ago when the city adopted a charter and moved to a town manager and council form of government, he said.
In their report, the committee members — as required by law — do offer alternatives to secession to address the budgetary and governmental issues.
Caribou could, for example, revert to a “town meeting” form of government to return some control to the citizens and look to privatize a number of services to reduce expenses. Taxes also could be reduced if the city took another look at property values that the committee members claim are artificially inflated.
Once members of the Caribou Secession Committee present their formal report on withdrawal at Thursday night’s public hearing, they have 12 months to make the vision of the new town of Lyndon a reality.
If the effort continues, legislation will have to be introduced within the next year to create the new town, according to Camping.
At this point, Camping said, committee members do not know if Caribou’s officials will let them secede without a fight.
“We could enter into a period of negotiation with the city,” he said. “A lot depends on [Caribou], and if they say, ‘OK, you can go,’ the struggle ends.”
But Camping said the committee and secession supporters are willing to fight.
“The people in [Lyndon] want us to do this,” Camping said. “After tonight’s hearing, the ball is in Caribou’s court.”
