BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 22, 2025
For a decade, Bucksport kept property taxes down using about $8 million it saved to prepare for the 2014 closing of the Verso Paper mill, which had made up more than 40 percent of its tax base. After the closure, local government maintained services, invested in infrastructure and courted new industry while attempting to shelter residents from rising costs that have hit Maine communities. Now, Bucksport has spent almost all of that cushion and is entering new territory as it looks to make spending cuts. “We cannot live like a mill town and not have a mill,” said Donald Jewett, a retired logger.