Whether Alna will see any money from Midcoast Conservancy in lieu of taxes remains to be decided, but the nonprofit is looking at the points the town has raised, Executive Director Jody Jones said Friday. Her goal is to have an indication of the conservancy’s plans by year’s end, Jones said in a phone interview and in an email hours earlier to Alna Third Selectman Doug Baston.

Jones’ Oct. 7 email responds to one Baston sent her Sept. 26, seeking any new word on the matter selectmen discussed in June and he discussed with Jones in early summer. Baston’s email offers the town’s help in calculating the contribution at either the tree growth or open space rate used with taxable properties. 

“I can assure that it is quite modest. For us this payment would be largely symbolic, and we think it would be in the Conservancy’s best interest, as it would go a long way to disarming local concerns that the Conservancy should pay something to the town as a proxy for the municipal services it does receive,” Baston writes.

“A look at our Annual Town Report will reveal that a number of our citizens struggle to pay their taxes and many are in arrears or approaching foreclosure. When other groups ... pay taxes on their holdings, and many, many other Alna citizens make their land voluntarily and freely open for hunting, fishing, hiking, birding, and snowmobiling — and pay taxes as well — it makes the disparity difficult to explain ... Many land trusts — including (one) where I am actively involved — do make such payments ...”

The board can’t compel the group, but hopes it would recognize a contribution is simply the right thing to do, Baston adds.

Baston said he wrote Jones because months had passed since they talked and he had expected to hear something more by now. When more than a week passed with no reply to his Sept. 26 email, he was a little surprised, he said. In her email Friday, Jones apologizes for not getting right back to Baston. Her email states she is working with staff and the board of directors on a “comprehensive policy” that will address Baston’s questions.

The fact the points are in writing will be helpful, and she’s grateful to Baston for the email, Jones told the Wiscasset Newspaper. The four organizations that formed the conservancy in January came in with their own practices, but now a fair, equitable policy will be developed for the entire service area, she said. Alna is seeking a yearly contribution in lieu of taxes on Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association land. The SVCA joined with Hidden Valley Nature Center, Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association and Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance to form the conservancy.

Jones didn’t know how the money request will pan out in the policy. As another representative of the conservancy did in a prior interview regarding Alna’s request, Jones noted the organization serves towns in varied ways. Those include monitoring water quality, removing infestation and protecting land that, undeveloped, acts as a sponge. That helps aquifers and wells and helps prevent erosion that impacts towns’ infrastructures, Jones said.

Later Friday, Baston said he was satisfied with Jones’ reply. “It’s good to know that this is still on they’re radar ... and they’re considering it, so that’s good,” he said.