Pelletier Island property owners are planning to withdraw their petition to secede from St. Agatha pending voter approval of a compromise worked out with town officials.
Pelletier Island residents and St. Agatha municipal leaders on Friday announced a plan that will have the community include funding in its budget to help pay to maintain the Island Road on Pelletier Island.
There are more than 40 year-round island residents and more than double that number of summer dwellers who currently share the costs of repairing and maintaining the road that travels 2.5 miles around the perimeter of the island on Long Lake. A roughly 0.6 mile causeway connects the island to the mainland.
Seven months ago, island property owners announced their intention to use a little known state law to petition for secession. Petitioners, led among others by county administrator and island property owner, Ryan D. Pelletier, have said all along, however, that their intent was not to secede but to “work things out with St. Agatha” concerning inequities in tax assessments and services.
During a public hearing in November, Pelletier pointed out that island property owners paid $100,310 in taxes to the town in 2017, accounting for 11.56 percent of St. Agatha’s total budget. But the Island Road Association also had to assess each island property owner $280 per year to pay for expenses to maintain the Island Road and the causeway, he said.
The petitioners requested that the same 11.56 percent of the public works budget, or about $28,000 annually, be appropriated to them for road work and maintenance.
Friday’s announcement indicated that the island petitioners and St. Agatha budget committee members and selectmen, led by chairman Beurmond Banville, negotiated and offered counter proposals before arriving at the current agreement.
Under the proposal that will be presented to voters for approval, the town will budget $20,000 from the public works budget each year for the 3.1 miles of Island Road and causeway. In addition, the town will hold the funds and manage the purchase of goods and services for the island “thus alleviating a lot of administrative work” that island residents have had to manage themselves. The town also agreed to allocate 20 hours per year to the use of town equipment for upkeep and maintenance of the roadways.
“We sat down, worked through the issues and in the end, the community felt that this was the most fair and equitable way to support the island and the more than 40 year-round residents that call St. Agatha home,” Banville said Friday.
Marc Nadeau, president of the Island Road Association, said in the release, “We feel this is a win-win for both the town and the Island residents. This compromise is a good one and I believe both parties are satisfied with the outcome.”
Residents will vote on the proposal during the annual St. Agatha town meeting in June.
This story was originally published in the Fiddlehead Focus.