THORNDIKE and UNITY - The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association is seeking exemption from property taxes on the roughly 400 acres in two Western Waldo County towns where the organization has its headquarters. MOFGA filed for property tax exempt status in Thorndike and Unity in 2012. According to officials in both towns the applications are still under consideration.

Heather Spalding, Interim Executive Director of MOFGA, likened the move to an administrative formality. The nonprofit has made payments to the towns in the past, she said, and would continue to do so if granted property tax exempt status.

"The point is we want to be official on the record as having filed the papers," she said. "We plan to continue to make payments in lieu of taxes and just go through the process."

MOFGA moved its headquarters to Unity in 1997. As a 501c3 nonprofit, Spalding said the organization was eligible for property tax exemption but made a "gentleman's agreement" with Unity selectmen to make an annual donation in lieu of taxes. In Thorndike, where MOFGAs holdings total around 43 acres, Spalding said the organization has simply paid the taxes on the assessed value of the property. 

The decision to formally seek a property tax exemption, she said, came out of recent conversations with town officials in Unity where MOFGA was trying to square its records with town tax maps.

"We had seven or eight parcels and we wanted to get it all clear," she said. The parcels comprised land acquisitions made over a number of years.

Any confusion over MOFGA's holdings would seem to be supported by local land records. On tax maps of Unity and Thorndike a total of 143 acres are indicated as being owned by MOFGA. Land grant acquisitions and purchases by MOFGA documented at the Waldo County Registry of deeds total substantially more. Spalding said 400 acres is the figure MOFGA generally uses.

While researching town records, Spalding said the assessor in Unity pointed out that MOFGA had never filled out the paperwork for property tax exempt status and recommended doing so. If the applications go through, however, Spalding said the MOFGA would continue to donate money to the towns.

Spalding said the payments would be "very generous" but "would depend on the financial health" of the organization.

Asked why a tax exempt nonprofit would make donations at all, Spalding said it's about being a good neighbor.

"We have close to 1,000 households in Waldo County that are members [of MOFGA]," she said. Thorndike and Unity are at the center of that, she said, both as MOFGA's headquarters and the residence of many members.

"We feel that if we're in a position to give back, we want to," she said. 

In other MOFGA news, Spalding said the board has been conducting interviews for a new executive director to replace longtime director Russell Libby, who stepped down last November, a month before he died at age 56 of cancer.

Spalding said MOFGA is hoping to have a new director in place by June.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com