PITTSFIELD – Town councilors set a process in motion Tuesday night that would allow them to assess user fees and rental fees for all town programs and operations if the Palesky tax cap passes in November.

The tax cap proposal would limit property taxes to 1 percent of the assessed value of the property, a move that would force Pittsfield to fund a $2.5 million budget on less than $500,000.

A series of public hearings have been set for Oct. 5 that would allow the council to set fees to increase revenues if the tax cap goes into effect Jan. 1. Some of the areas where fees will come under scrutiny include business licenses and permits, transfer station, sewer fees and recreation.

Sen. Kenneth T. Gagnon, D-Waterville, was in the audience because Pittsfield has come under his district with the redistricting approved last year. Invited to comment, Gagnon predicted the Palesky initiative would fail and said the “so-called scare tactics” – the towns’ assessments of the impacts – are accurate.

Should it pass, he added, what concerns him the most is the loss of local control.

“If the money comes from Augusta, it is clear the rules will come from Augusta as well. You will be told what kind of garbage pickup you will have, how many cruisers you can buy. This council will sit around deciding how many crossing guards you hire and not much else.”

Gagnon said that although similar tax caps in other states have proved effective a decade or more after their enacting, “recovery here will take longer than in other states. We are not a wealthy state.”

He suggested that even without a Palesky plan, some sort of tax reform will be proposed during the next Legislative session. He suggested establishing a special committee to deal with tax reform rather than using the current Taxation Committee, which is already overwhelmed with 350 to 400 bills per session.

The council also approved a letter, to be either mailed or distributed to all town residents, that explains the effect the cap would have on town services. “It would dramatically reduce taxes while also dramatically reducing funds needed to maintain existing health, safety and educational services,” the letter states.

Town Manager Kathryn Ruth provided the statistics and noted, “At the current time we cannot provide for a mechanism to assess the cost of police, fire, highway, street lights, library, social services and a host of other services. If the 1 percent passes, the town will have very little, if any, tax dollars to fund these services.”