36 M.R.S. § 2723-A — Computation of tax

1.
Calculation of fire control net costs.
Annually by September 1 beginning in 1987, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry shall certify to the State Tax Assessor the amount appropriated from the General Fund by the Legislature for the current fiscal year, including funds appropriated or allocated for capital improvements and repairs and the amounts proposed and budgeted to be spent in any federal and dedicated accounts for forest fire protection activities in the same fiscal year. The commissioner shall certify the amounts of all projected revenues resulting from forest fire protection activities for the same fiscal year, including federal revenues and dedicated revenues from the sale of buildings, vehicles and other equipment; fees and other miscellaneous revenues; and revenues estimated to be received from municipalities and the unorganized territory pursuant to Title 12, sections 9204 , 9205 and 9205‑A .
2.
Preceding fiscal year net costs.
The commissioner shall certify to the State Tax Assessor actual expenditures and revenues for forest fire protection for the preceding fiscal year for the same categories of information required in subsection 1 and provide the net amount resulting from subtracting revenues from expenditures.
3.
Roll forward amount from preceding fiscal year.
The State Tax Assessor shall subtract the amount in subsection 2 from the amount determined for the preceding fiscal year under subsection 4 . If the resulting amount is positive, it shall be treated as a revenue and deducted from current year estimated expenditures. If the amount is negative, it shall be treated as an expenditure and added to current year estimated expenditures.
4.
Computing current year costs.
The State Tax Assessor shall add all projected expenditures for the current fiscal year, including general, federal and dedicated funds. From this amount shall be subtracted all revenues projected to be received in the current fiscal year, as identified in accordance with subsection 1 . From this amount shall be added or subtracted, as appropriate, the net roll forward amount from the prior fiscal year as determined in subsection 3 .
5.
Computing the tax.
5-A.
Computing tax.
This amount must be multiplied by 40% and the sum must then be divided by the total number of adjusted acres of commercial forest land, rounded to the nearest 1/10 of a cent and multiplied by the number of adjusted acres of commercial forest land owned by each taxpayer to determine the amount of tax for which each owner of commercial forest land is liable.
6.
Minimum tax.
If the amount calculated under this chapter is less than $5, the amount assessed shall be $5.