BANGOR – City councilors have made official their position on a controversial tax cap proposal that will appear on the statewide election ballot in November.

During a meeting on Monday night, councilors unanimously adopted a resolve expressing Bangor’s opposition to the so-called Palesky tax cap proposal, which seeks to limit property taxes to $10 per $1,000 of assessed value based on 1996-97 values.

“This puts our opposition on the record,” Council Chairman Dan Tremble said Wednesday. He said the council’s decision to take a stand against the tax cap was a “no brainer” given the effect its passage would have on the city’s ability to provide the level and variety of services it now offers.

Bangor now has joined a number of other Maine municipalities that have come out against the proposal.

Concerns that failure to ease the burden on taxpayers this year might lead to revenge at the polls this fall factored heavily into the budget deliberation process in Bangor and many other Maine towns.

For local elected officials, Tremble said, deciding which position to take on the tax cap was “as obvious as passing a resolve saying we like ice cream.”

The Maine Municipal Association has said that the cap would result in annual losses of between $594 million and $950 million in municipal property tax revenues.

In Bangor, it would reduce the city’s tax revenues by $20.4 million or more than half, according to City Manager Edward Barrett.

If the measure passes this fall, Tremble noted, the city could be forced to eliminate such services as parks and recreation programming, to cut funding to local nonprofit and service groups, to operate its fire and police departments with “skeleton” crews and to reduce public works and infrastructure projects.

The tax cap ballot question is the result of a citizen petition drive led by Carol Palesky and the Maine Taxpayers Action Network.