BATH — The Bath City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to give final passage to an ordinance exempting military personnel on active duty from paying excise tax on vehicles.

Bath becomes one of the first communities in Maine to take advantage of a new state law that allows such an exemption.

In June 2011, the 125th Legislature passed a law that allows municipalities to exempt from excise tax vehicles owned by Maine residents who are on active military duty and who are either permanently stationed at a military or naval base outside Maine or deployed for military service in the U.S. armed forces, including the National Guard and Reserves, for a period of more than 180 days.

The law went into effect on Jan. 1, and in February, the city of Bangor enacted a military personnel excise tax exemption, Finance Director Debbie Cyr said Wednesday. The Bangor ordinance was retroactive to Jan. 1.

Cyr said city officials “really don’t have any idea how many people it might affect.”

Eric Conrad of the Maine Municipal Association said Wednesday that his office has fielded “more than a handful of calls” from Maine communities about the law in the two months since it passed.

Bath Finance Director Juli Millett said Wednesday that after surveying other communities about the proposal, “ They all agree that it’s a very hard answer on how much it would cost because we just don’t know how many residents are (eligible), but we’re not thinking it’s going to be a large additional abatement of taxes.”

The City Council unanimously approved first passage of the ordinance at its Feb. 1 meeting.

The ordinance will become law in 21 days.

bbrogan@timesrecord.com