LIVERMORE FALLS – “No matter what the vote is on Nov. 2, this is not going to go away,” Superintendent Terry Despres said as town and school officials discussed the proposed tax cap Tuesday night.
“It sounds so simplistic, a problem-solving situation, but it creates many problems,” he said. “This is an anger vote against the Legislature, which had a solution in its hands but lacked the true courage to face the major problem – tax reform.
“Everyone agrees property tax in Maine needs to find a way to be reduced, but a tax cap is not the answer; it’s the destruction of a way of life. I challenge Palesky to tell us what will make our state better with the tax cap.
“This is not a simple question, it’s a false promise, one which will change the way people in Maine take care of each other;” he explained. “For a two-year period the way of life in Maine will be destroyed.”
Although the proposal would raise constitutional issues, if passed it will be considered constitutional in its entirety until challenged, he explained. Those challenges will be many and expensive.
“One answer won’t suffice, so citizens will pay to question the question when money is needed for so many other things,” Despres said. “It will create a long, dire problem, and the state won’t be able to act until the litigation has run its course.”
Despres said he also sees Question 1 destroying small business in Maine because that is where discretionary funds are spent.
If schools in SAD 36 close early and town employees are laid off, there will be no discretionary spending, and it will hit the small businesses, not the large out-of-state ones, he said.
This, in turn, will cause state revenues from sales and incomes taxes to drop, while unemployment will rise, resulting in an estimated half-billion-dollar revenue loss.
There will also be an out-migration of public-sector employees as teachers and other professionals seek jobs outside the state.
“Many people think schools will take the biggest hit, but it will be the elderly and least advantaged of our communities who will take the most,” he said.
If Palesky passes, SAD 36 schools will close when the money to provide the state’s Essential Programs and Services is gone, the superintendent said. He estimates schools would close 40 days early.
Livermore Falls Town Manager Alan Gove used a chart to show that most of the town’s income would go to the district, with almost nothing left for municipal services.
Livermore Administrator Kurt Schaub found his town losing about 25 percent of its income.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
