Auditorium bond opposition rocks Bangor council

BANGOR – It may have been their second choice, but it was a choice just the same.

City Councilors on Thursday were dismayed by the House of Representative’s Wednesday evening rejection of a $15 million state bond that, if eventually approved by voters in November, would have provided about half the money for a new Bangor Auditorium.

“Today is a black day in my opinion,” Councilor Gerry Palmer said Thursday.

Many, including Palmer, were even more puzzled by the fervent opposition offered on the House floor to a simple procedural motion. Add to that the proposal’s most vocal detractor was none other than the city’s own Rep. Patricia Blanchette.

The one-time city councilor’s derision of the bond came as even a bigger surprise to some considering its most ardent supporter was her fellow Democratic delegation member, Rep. Joseph Perry.

“We don’t know where [Blanchette] was coming from,” a frustrated Councilor Dan Tremble said of Blanchette’s opposition, which preceded a 91-47 vote against sending the plan to the Appropriations Committee. “I think we’re all in shock.”

Blanchette, a Democrat representing part of the city’s West Side, said, when interviewed after the vote, that her reasons were simple.

With no confirmed prospects of regional or private funding, the bond’s passage would undoubtedly leave Bangor property taxpayers on the hook for the remaining $15 million, she said.

“That is not what the people of Bangor told us they wanted,” said Blanchette, who as a city councilor was adamant that a new auditorium would not fall solely on the shoulders of Bangor taxpayers.

And after the vote, Blanchette discounted supporters’ assertions that at least part of the remaining $15 million could have been raised privately.

“Where have all these private donors been, then?” the outspoken Blanchette asked Wednesday, noting that the city has been working for years on ways to pay for a new auditorium with no serious offers of private sector assistance.

The council considered the bond proposal, sponsored by Rep. Brian Duprey, R-Hampden, a backup plan to the local option sales tax, which, while preferred by city officials, is unlikely to make it out of the Taxation Committee for a full House vote this session.

The local option sales tax, or Debt Avoidance Act, would allow a municipality – with voter approval – to impose up to a 1 percent sales tax for no more than five years to fund a specific project, in this case the auditorium.

While some were skeptical of Blanchette’s reasoning for opposing Duprey’s bond, others on the council were simply disappointed in the bill’s defeat.

“We’re back to the drawing board, but we’re running out of options,” said Councilor David Nealley, who refused to second-guess Blanchette, the city’s former mayor.

“Pat is very much for what’s good for Bangor,” he said.

But with hopes of a local option sales tax fading as the Legislative session winds down, the question could become, “What’s next for Bangor?”

Some have raised the prospect of countywide financing – akin to the one that paid for Portland’s Cumberland County Civic Center. Such a plan would raise the county tax rate by about 40 cents per $1,000 in valuation for 20 years.

But not all hope is lost in Augusta. Not yet.

While Duprey’s bond was dealt a near-fatal blow Wednesday, the Senate, by voting in support, could choose to resurrect the legislation. The bond then would return to the House, which could reconsider sending it to the Appropriations Committee.

With that committee’s approval, two-thirds of the House and Senate must then sign off for the question to appear on the November ballot.

Even the bond’s supporters concede that’s not likely.

And, technically, the local option sales tax is still alive, albeit “on life support,” according to one lawmaker.

Regardless, councilors here are hoping news of the tax option’s death has been greatly exaggerated.

“Hopefully it will get a fair hearing,” City Councilor John Rohman said.