AUGUSTA – The solution to the problem of Bangor’s aging auditorium may pivot on a bond proposal offered Thursday by a Hampden lawmaker.

The city of Bangor has been trying to muster support in the State House for a local option sales tax bill to raise the $30 million needed to replace its 47-year-old municipal auditorium. The measure would allow Bangor to impose a 1 percent local sales tax for five years to fund the project.

But a majority of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee recently gave the plan an ought-not-to-pass recommendation after many legislators expressed reservations about the proposal. Some argued that it was unfair to ask non-Bangor residents to pay an additional tax for an auditorium located in the Queen City.

Rep. Brian Duprey, R-Hampden, admitted he fell into the latter category, but decided that something should be done to help Bangor with its fund-raising efforts. Sensing that the local-option sales tax would be dead-on-arrival when it reaches the floor of the House, Duprey offered his fellow members of the Legislature’s Business and Economic Development Committee an alternative Thursday that was well received by the panelists.

Duprey would like to include a special bond question on the November ballot that would authorize borrowing between $10 million and $15 million for the city of Bangor to help defray the costs of its new auditorium. Acknowledging that his proposal could not bind a future Legislature, Duprey hoped his suggestion would at least set a precedent for subsequent sessions to benefit other communities with projects that serve regional interests.

He offered that Bangor would be the recipient this year, but that next year, Portland might make a strong case for a waterfront bond or that Lewiston might want funding for its Bates Mill renovation. Each session, Duprey said, the Legislature could select its own proposal from a list of competing priorities.

Members of the legislative committee decided Thursday to schedule a vote next week on a bill that would allow Duprey’s plan to stand alone before the Appropriations Committee which would decide the issue.

“This could be a viable alternative [to a local option sales tax],” said Sen. Kevin Shorey, the Calais Republican who serves as the committee’s Senate chairman. “Rep. Duprey stepped up to the plate. We considered including his plan as part of a larger bond package, but we feel the Bangor Auditorium should be able to stand on its own and its proponents should be able to fight for it on their own.”

Duprey was pleased with the members of his committee, many of whom pledged to support the bill.

“If we can get the city of Bangor and other service center communities to the Appropriations Committee with a public hearing on the bill, I think the members of the Appropriations Committee will see that this could benefit all of the service center communities in Maine – I think the voters will be behind it, too,” Duprey said.

The bonding alternative, Duprey said, would offer service center communities a mechanism to achieve their goals without assessing a special tax on those living in neighboring towns and cities. Duprey said the Bangor Auditorium project was the perfect match for the criteria identified in his proposal.

“The current auditorium is an institution in eastern and central Maine,” Duprey said. “Whether it is for basketball tournaments, concerts, or the circus, the auditorium draws tens of thousands to Maine’s Queen City every year. For all that it has meant to the region, the auditorium has not aged well and it is time for a new facility.

“Many economic development initiatives do not produce benefits that are tangible to the average taxpayer,” he said. “Helping to build a new Bangor auditorium would be a visible example of our commitment to economic development in this state and send the message that Maine is open for business.”

Duprey said he had spoken with Bangor officials who assured him the city would be able to cover the balance of the costs necessary to complete a new auditorium.

“I talked with the [Bangor] mayor and he told me that they would bond out the rest of the remaining amount and it will go solely on the resident Bangor taxpayer,” Duprey said. “They figure that next to the local option sales tax, this is the next best thing.”