NEWPORT – Newport selectmen got the bad news from Town Manager James Ricker on Wednesday night on the impact the passage of the Palesky tax cap would have on the town.

“There would be no police. No Fire Department. No paving. No street lights. You think about that, a Police Department that now handles 4,300 calls a year. A Fire Department that goes on four or five rescue calls a day at times. It will all be nothing. This will demolish your town,” he said.

The selectmen shook their head in disbelief and dismay as Ricker provided the actual revenue figures. Newport had a municipal budget of $2.8 million this year. Under the Palesky plan, the town could only raise $1.6 million in taxes. Even with additional revenues, the town would be $140,400 short when attempting to pay its school assessment.

“We would have a deficit,” he said. Ricker said the town’s bank accounts could be drained of $487,000 to cover the school payment and the rest would be used to cure town debt.

“The single most important factor is that home rule and local control will be eliminated under this proposal,” Ricker said. “This is not a scare tactic or an attempt to degrade the Palesky proposal. It is the simple truth based on the best available information. If this proposal is passed in November, we are very close to becoming one government, one control: Augusta. We all know how successful they have been in addressing tax issues.”

Ricker said he has already met with all town employees and outlined what will happen if the proposal is passed. He said 50,000 to 60,000 jobs could be lost throughout Maine.

“I do not believe anyone can accurately calculate the number of lost jobs [statewide] under this proposal, but isn’t it ironic that almost all are lost on a local basis – no state and no county employees. The bureaucracy will only become larger.”

Ricker said the state will find a way through the situation, as will the counties. “But the towns will cease to exist.”

In other action Wednesday night, the selectmen saw the town’s first victim of the Palesky plan. Because of the uncertainty of whether Palesky’s proposal will pass, Ricker recommended that the town not bond a new recycling center.

Voters had approved up to $175,000 to build the center, which would have provided a safer working environment and one with heat for the employees for the first time. Bids came in higher than expected, with the lowest one at $193,000 that was later reduced to $185,000.

The selectmen agreed not to create any new debts but asked Ricker to try to renovate the building enough to make it usable for a new baler and to attempt to provide heat this winter.