An Orono law that fines residents for loud parties may be changed less than a year after it was enacted.
The Orono Town Council enacted a disorderly property ordinance in August 2025 following an assault in the town’s Webster neighborhood. The law issues fines to tenants and landlords for loud parties, with fines ranging from $300 to $600 that can double on subsequent offenses.
Orono police have issued 10 warnings and nine fines since the law was passed. Five have been paid as of Monday, Orono Chief of Police Dan Merrill said.
University of Maine students on Orono’s Good Neighbor Committee, a subcommittee to the Town Council that oversees the law, suggested changes to the fine structure on Monday.
The suggestions come seven months after the good neighbor law was approved to crack down on disorderly properties through fines, but UMaine Student Government members have fielded complaints that the fines are too large and could make it hard for students to find housing come September.
A $300 fine for every offense, a cap at $1,200 for total fines to a house in a year and a rebate system for money paid to the town were all proposed to the committee by students. Orono Council Chair Dan Demeritt brought these changes to the committee on Monday.
Committee members decided not to enact a flat fee or maximum amount someone can be fined in a year, but substantial changes to the doubling effect of the fines and the creation of a rebate program will move forward to the Town Council.
Committee members decided to keep an escalating fee scale to allow the town to enforce multiple offenses. They opted to remove the doubling of fines after 10 p.m. and for large parties.
“I think $300 is a healthy chunk of change, especially if you’re a graduate student. But on the other hand, if you’re having a party of 60 people, or if you’re repeating things over and over again, I think $600 is not way out of whack,” committee member Brian McGill said.
The committee decided on two scales, one from $300 to $1,200 for small gatherings and another from $600 to $2,400 for parties of more than 20 people to replace the doubling effect but still punish repeat offenders.
The proposed scale would cap fines for large parties at $2,400 after the fourth offense. With the current doubling scale, a house would receive a fine of more than $1 million after 11 parties larger than 20 people.
The committee decided not to create a cap on how much a house could be fined in a year.
“You’re not dissuading anybody from continuing to have the problems they have,” Merrill said about the combination of a flat fee and cap on fines.
Committee members had little pushback on the rebate program. Rebates would be offered to any house or apartment that has not been fined more than once and would incentivize people not to throw multiple parties.
“[The rebate] reflects this is an education initiative more than so than anything else. And if someone demonstrates that they heard and came to understand what our expectations are for Orono residential neighborhoods, that’s a win,” Demeritt said Monday.
There was some talk that paying back a fine would allow someone to throw one large party a year and not have to pay the fine, but town officials seemed confident that this wouldn’t happen.
The proposed changes will be brought to the Town Council in a coming meeting, Demeritt said. Changes to the law will require a public hearing, which will take place in April, he said.
The rule has made residents feel safer, Demeritt said after the meeting.
There were 62 noise complaints in the past year, the same as the year prior, but residents are less likely to confront their neighbors about noise now, Demeritt said.
“I look at it this way, if people aren’t saying anything or bringing anything up, I say we’re doing the right thing,” Merrill said.
