Today a slew of new state laws takes effect, including one that would help out low-income, elderly homeowners struggling to pay their property taxes. Maine municipalities now have the authority to let qualifying seniors defer tax payments indefinitely so they can stay in their homes until they are ready to sell them. Belgrade town officials want to jump on board.

"The select board really wants to see if they can assist these folks and not have to force them to sell their property just to pay their taxes," says Dennis Keschl, town manager in Belgrade, in the lakes region. "Although we're wealthy in waterfront, our median income isn't as high as other towns. There are many people in our town that are struggling to pay their taxes and a lot of the folks are older folks and they have lived in the town for generations."

The law allows property tax deferrals for seniors 70 and up who earn less than 300 percent of poverty -- which amounts to $14,400 for an individual. It's not clear how many municipalities will take advantage of the law. But the bill's sponsor, state Representative Kathleen Chase of Wells, says those that do will be rewarded by keeping civic-minded, responsible seniors in their communities.

"You ensure that that certain character of your town remains the same," Chase says. "I just think it's a great program when neighbors can help neighbors, and friends can help friends and those people are allowed to stay in their homes."

Chase says this is not a free ride for seniors. They -- or their families, in the event that they die before their home is sold -- will have to pay interest on their tax bills for every year they defer. It's not unlike the interest homeowners owe towns if they are delinquent on their property tax payments.

But Chase says there's one big difference. "In two-and-a-half years the town would own your home, and then you wouldn't have a home. This allows you to stay in your home. It can't be foreclosed on while you're there in this program."

Chase says that Wells is also interested in starting up a tax deferral program. She says the program might be a good fit for towns such as Wells and Belgrade, where proximity to water has raised property values.

But the Maine Municipal Association questions how many towns can afford a delay in collecting property taxes during this economic downturn.

"In recent years, the Legislature has really severely cut revenue sharing and other revenue streams to municipalities," says MMA spokesman Eric Conrad. "There have been layoffs around the state, there have been reductions in municipal services."

Conrad says town officials must also contend with the uncertainity of how much revenue they would lose upfront. "Some of our members are concerned that if they adopt an ordinance to allow this, that they don't know whether two people in that town will sign up or 200 and obviously the revenue ramifications are very different."

David Ledew, director of the property tax division of Maine Revenue Services, says that towns would have to think about how to offset the lost revenue from property taxes.

"Let's say you had 10 homeowners that decided to take advantage of the program, and their preopty tax bills are $2,500 a piece -- that would be $25,000 that would not be coming into the municipality for other services, so they would have to raise the extra amount until some at point in the future, as people come out of the program, it creates funding which will cover those that are in the program, or will go into the program."

Ledew says Revenue Services will provide more information about the law to municipalities. It has the experience: Ledew says the state tried a similar program in the early 1990s in which the state paid the property taxes for qualifying seniors, expecting to be paid back later.

But because of budget constraints, the program could only take in under 200 homeowners -- a handful of whom are still in the program.