CALAIS – To many voters, the Palesky tax cap appears to spell relief.

The citizen initiative led by Carol Palesky and the Maine Taxpayers Action Network seeks to cap property taxes at $10 for $1,000 of 1996-97 assessed value and would impose other restrictions.

But to municipal officials and town and city councils, it could mean a major headache.

In a little more than three weeks, voters will decide if they want to give a thumbs up or down to the initiative.

People Down East are wondering just how that cap will affect them.

The Palesky people say municipalities need to look at ways to save taxpayers money.

Eastport City Manager George “Bud” Finch and Calais City Manager Linda Pagels recently sat down to talk about the Nov. 2 referendum vote.

The Eastport mill rate is $32.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. If the referendum passes, the rate would be cut to $10 per $1,000 and city officials would be forced to cut $1.4 million from its school and municipal budgets.

“Tax reform shouldn’t be changing which pocket you take it out of,” Finch said. “It should be a combination of where is the money coming from and also are we properly spending it. I believe that most of our smaller communities are truly spending the money much better than some of the larger communities that are going to be unaffected by this.”

The administration budget would be cut from $294,000 to $97,000, which would mean a loss of jobs. Hours at the city building would be curtailed. “We would go from the 45 hours a week we are open now down to 12 hours a week,” he said.

Councilors would have to serve as department heads in order to keep the city departments operating. “I am not saying they are going to run the department, I’m saying its like the town of Perry where … the employees … would report to that person,” he said.

For Calais, there also would be an impact. The current tax rate is $27.95 per $1,000 of assessed value. The imposed cap would cut that to $10 per $1,000 and city officials would have to cut around $2 million from its municipal and school budgets.

Although cuts would be up to the city councilors, among the areas that would suffer would be the city’s local jail and dispatch service and the loss of the Calais Free Library. The city’s recreation department would also take a hit.

There would be sharply reduced road maintenance and reduced hours for the transfer station.

For the councilors to fill in as department heads would require a change in the city’s charter, Pagels said.

Tax cap spokesman Phil Harriman of Portland said Thursday communities need to base their information on whether they are at 100 percent of assessed value.

“So if the two communities have not reassessed value in some time then those figures they are talking about aren’t completely accurate,” Harriman said. “If they are not at current 100 percent value then they are missing revenue they will have.”

Harriman said municipalities should also factor in the $250 million in school funding that voters told the Legislature in June to give to communities.

He said communities needed to explore other funding sources.

“Do we have land that we own in the public domain that we perhaps should put back in the private sector so that it would generate property taxes?” he said. “Have we looked at our zoning ordinances and possibly ease up on them so people can reinvest in their homes or businesses?”

“The people who are paying the taxes, they can’t take it anymore. All levels of government are growing faster than our paychecks,” Harriman said.

A citizens group to discuss the Palesky tax cap was recently created in Calais. The committee has conducted its own research and plans to hold a public forum at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the Washington County Community College.