Tax cap foes deny using scare tactics Weekend survey finds Palesky plan failing

BANGOR – Opponents to the Palesky tax cap initiative denied Saturday that they are using scare tactics to encourage people to vote against the referendum Tuesday. Instead, they said, they are educating the public by stating the facts.

“The proponents of Question 1 say that we’re using scare tactics by telling the truth,” Ned McCann, secretary-treasurer of the Maine AFL-CIO, said Saturday at the No on One rally at Pickering Square.

Other speakers at the rally echoed McCann’s sentiments, stating that police, fire, municipal and teaching jobs will be lost if the measure passes.

Those in favor of the bill disagree, saying that cuts can be made in other places.

“The point we’ve been trying to make is that when the opposition decided the only way to lower property taxes was to fire teachers, police and firefighters, [it] was a worst-case scenario,” Phil Harriman of Tax Cap Yes! said Saturday in a phone interview.

The tax cap referendum was initiated by a citizen petition and will be on Tuesday’s ballot. If it passes, it would cap property taxes at 1 percent of assessed value, which equals $10 per $1,000 of valuation.

According to a poll released Saturday of likely voters from across the state, the Palesky initiative was failing in Maine 60 percent to 37 percent. Three percent were undecided in the survey that was conducted for WLBZ-TV in Bangor, WCSH-TV in Portland and the Bangor Daily News.

Representatives from both sides of the issue agree that something needs to be done about Maine’s property taxes, but don’t share the same views when it comes to solving the problem.

The more than 50 people at Saturday’s rally, many of whom were firefighters and teachers, said they are worried not only that their jobs will be at risk, but also that as residents they will lose valuable services provided by their towns and schools if the initiative passes.

Gov. John Baldacci was at the rally to speak out against the referendum, but he does agree that something needs to be done about Maine’s high property taxes.

“We’ve got a lot more work to do. There’s no question about it,” Baldacci said at the rally. “[But] we want it done the right way. The Maine way.”

Harriman, on the other hand, says that the tax cap is the right way to send a message to Augusta legislators.

“Maine and local governments have continued to spend beyond the taxpayers’ ability to keep up,” said Harriman, a former town councilor and state senator.

He noted that while Augusta legislators have continued to increase the number of programs and services that towns are required to provide, the state has not granted funding for the mandates.

“I believe that if Question 1 can pass, it will finally and firmly send a message to Augusta that they have to reduce spending at the state level and support our local schools so that property taxes can be reduced,” Harriman said.

Opponents think the message can be sent in another way, and said they will continue to educate the public by stating the facts and encouraging them to vote against the measure.

“It’s not a scare tactic, it’s for real,” Bangor Fire Chief Jeff Cammack said.