NEWPORT – Citing concerns about the legality of a resident’s petition requesting a tax cap in area communities, Newport Town Manager James Ricker said Monday that he has turned documents over to the town’s attorney for review.

Ricker said his concern was that the petition which voters signed advocated for an article on the next town meeting warrant that would place a cap on town appropriations, or overall spending, including school assessments. But when the petition was submitted to the town, it was accompanied by an affidavit signed by Robert Goulette of Elm Street, that contained different wording.

Goulette’s affidavit indicated that the voters who signed the petition were asking for a cap on town property taxes and school taxes, according to the Newport town manager.

“Taxes and appropriations are very different,” said Ricker. “For the town of Newport, it could mean a difference between raising $81,000 and raising $50,176.”

Ricker pointed out that the wording on the affidavit “could authorize me to actually spend more than I had planned,” he said. “This is the dangerous part of people and petitions.”

The article on the petition that the voters signed states: “To see if the citizens of the town of Newport want the Board of Selectmen and the members of the board of SAD 48 to adopt both a town and school budget policy of limiting annual spending percentage increases in both town appropriations and local school assessments, separately, to not more than the rate of inflation of the previous year without regard to changes in the amount of the state school subsidy.”

However, the affidavit, which is required of anyone submitting a petition to ensure that the signatures gathered were collected legally, changes the word “appropriations” to “property taxes.” An additional problem, said Ricker, is that there are no school taxes – the school payment each town is required to make each month is part of the overall municipal budget.

Ricker said there are dangers, too, in not identifying a specific cost of living increase. “Do I use New England’s [cost-of-living index]? Or do I choose California’s or New York’s? The entire wording is ambiguous.”

Goulette said Monday afternoon that he is trying to figure out what went wrong with the wording. “It could be just a clerical thing,” he said.

A typing mistake will not stop the petition from being resubmitted, he said.

“We are asking the town and the schools to go according to the cost of living. Say there is a 3 percent cost-of-living increase, then they can’t bring their budget in more than 3 percent higher than the previous year,” he said.

Goulette said 207 Newport residents signed the petition, while only 80 were required.

Meanwhile, the same group continues to lobby for a “no” vote on SAD 48’s fifth budget referendum vote today. The Committee for Reasonable Taxation has lobbied since summer against the district’s proposed $16.8 million budget, which has already been trimmed by cutting 18 employees and a number of key school programs, including the gifted and talented and several sports.

Three articles will be on today’s ballot: adult education, the additional local share and the bottom line of the budget.

The tax-cap petition, which also has been submitted to Hartland and Palmyra, is part of a separate effort by the grass-roots organization, which had previously concentrated its efforts on school spending and now has shifted to include municipal spending.

As of Monday afternoon, Corinna, Plymouth and St. Albans – the other community members of SAD 48 – had not seen the petition.