Assistance
General Assistance
The Town of Sweden administers a General Assistance program for the support of the poor pursuant to Title 22 M.R.S.A. §4305 to assist needy residents, individuals, and families of the Town to meet their basic needs, if they meet eligibility requirements. General Assistance may include help paying for:
- Household or personal supplies (toiletries, cleaning supplies)
- Food
- Housing (e.g., mortgage, rent, room rent, temporary housing)
- Fuel & utilities
- Medical, dental, prescriptions, medical supplies/equipment
- Burial costs
Who is eligible?
You may be eligible for General Assistance if you do not have the income or resources to meet your own basic needs. You can apply in person at the Sweden Town office. If it is determined you are are eligible, assistance is provided in the form of a voucher payment to the vendor. The Town must issue a written decision regarding eligibility within 24 hours of receiving an application. For questions regarding the General Assistance Program, call The Maine Department of Health and Human Services at: 1-800-442-4305.
Abatement - Poverty or Hardship
An application must be submitted each year for which abatement is requested. Pursuant to 36 M.R.S. § 841(2)(C), the municipality must provide a written decision within 30 days from the date they receive your completed application.
Food Assistance
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides a monthly benefit to help low-income households purchase nutritious food.
If you receive SNAP you may also be eligible to participate in Maine SNAP-Ed or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) For information and applications to see if you qualify, visit their website.
The Sweden Food Pantry serves the towns of Sweden, Lovell, Fryeburg, Stow, Stoneham, and Waterford, but they do not turn away any eligible individual or family.
The Pantry is open to the community on the first and third Wednesdays of each month from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, and is located in the basement of the Sweden Community Church, 137 Bridgton Road, near Sweden’s Four Corners (intersection of Rt 93 and Waterford Road).
Emergency food boxes are available. To arrange for emergency service, please call the Pantry at (207) 647-5735
Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
- You may qualify if you are a: renter, renter with heat included, homeowner, subsidized renter with heat not included, employed or unemployed, or have income earned by wages or other sources.
- Download the current guidelines you need to follow.
- If you qualify for HEAP, you may qualify for many other programs. Our team will help direct you to those programs once your application has been approved.
Property Tax Stabilization for Seniors
Property Tax Stabilization for Senior Citizens, also known as the Property Tax Stabilization Program (the “Program”), is a Maine State program that allows certain senior-citizen residents to stabilize, or freeze, the property taxes on their homestead. As long as you qualify and file a timely application each year, the tax billed to you for your homestead will be frozen at the amount you were billed in the prior tax year. Eligible residents who move may transfer the fixed tax amount to a new homestead, even if that new homestead is in a different Maine municipality.
Stabilization Application – The filing deadline for stabilization is August, 2023.
To be eligible for the Program, an individual must meet all of the following as of April 1 of the
property tax year for which they are requesting stabilization:
- Be 65 years old or older.
- Be a permanent resident of Maine.
- Have owned a homestead in Maine for at least ten years. The ten-year period does not
have to be consecutive. - Be eligible for a homestead exemption under 36 M.R.S. §§ 681 – 689 on the property which
they are requesting stabilization.
If a homestead is owned by more than one individual as joint tenants, only one owner needs to qualify for the Program. There is no payback amount if a property is removed from the Program and
there is no income or asset limits to qualify.
**A new Property Tax Stabilization Form will be available in August 2023.
Stabilization Guidance for Applicants
Property Tax Deferral for Senior Citizens
The State Property Tax Deferral Program is a lifeline loan program that can cover the annual property tax bills of Maine people who are ages 65 and older or are permanently disabled and who cannot afford to pay them on their own. The loan program allows Maine’s most vulnerable community members to age in place and ensures that property taxes are still delivered to municipalities, requiring repayment of the loan once the property is sold or becomes part of an estate.
The Maine property tax deferral program allows you to delay paying the property taxes on your home BUT this does not mean that your property taxes go away. Your town will keep track of the taxes due while you are in the program.
Each year, the town will send you a report showing the amount of tax deferred and the interest accrued. The town has the right to put a lien on your home in order to collect the amount due. Each year, the town sends a list of people in the program to the county registry of deeds. This list states your name, a description of your home, the tax due and any payments you made. This list is notice that the town has a lien against your property. The lien is for the amount of the deferred taxes, interest and fees. The lien may make it hard to get a loan on your home or to sell it.
The town will send you a bill for the total amount of deferred taxes, interest and fees if you move or sell your home. If you pass away while you are in the program, the town will send the bill to your heirs. The bill must be paid within 45 days to avoid enforcement of the lien. You will still have up to 18 months to pay the bill.
For more information on this program and to see of you qualify, visit the Maine.gov website.
Sweden Town Office
