The following is part of a continuing series analyzing political advertising this campaign season.
Political action committee:
Party: Nonpartisan
TV ad: “Broken Promise”
Length: 60 seconds
Producer: The Henninger Group, Arlington, Va.
Market: Statewide
Announcer: Man’s voice
Visuals: The ad opens with close-ups of a number of local government officials, then shows family members gathered around a “For Sale” sign, their home looming behind them. A graphic depicts the decline in the percentage of school funding paid by the state. That is overlaid on a picture of the Statehouse. A succession of images follows. Groups of people hold signs that read “Yes on 1A,” including a group of kids pictured in front of a school bus. Next comes a series of families standing in front of their homes. It returns to close-ups.
Text, audio: Jennifer Wixson, selectman, Troy: “People are very worried about rising property taxes.”
Dana Lee, town manager, Mechanic Falls: “Rising property taxes are probably the number one problem in the state of Maine right now.”
Oz Bonsey, retired, Surry: “Every year the problem’s getting worse.”
Jolene Lovejoy, selectman, Rumford: “People are being forced to leave their homes.”
Ryan Pelletier, town manager, St. Agatha: “Property that’s been in their families for generations.”
Galen Larrabee, Aghaloma Farm, Knox: “It keeps going up every single year.”
Lee: “Every year we have more families in more trouble.”
Larrabee: “We can’t survive.”
Bar graph appears on the decline of state education funding with the words: “Legislature’s Broken Promise on Education.”
Back to more close-ups.
Lee: “In 1984, the Legislature promised to fund 55 percent of the cost of education in the state of Maine. They currently fund about 42 percent.”
Bonsey: “It’s one of the worst broken promises ever.”
Lee: “They’ve never funded 55 percent of the cost. They’ve never fulfilled that promise.”
Wixson: “So year after year, the state pays less and less, and property taxpayers are picking up the difference.”
Lee: “That’s why property taxes have skyrocketed.”
Words appear: “Maine has highest property tax burden in America.”
Wixson: “Question 1A – the people’s proposal – will force the Legislature to keep its promise to fund 55 percent of the cost of K-through-12 education costs.”
Nick Mavodones, city councilor, Portland: “It means $264 million in property tax relief. A 15 percent reduction in property taxes statewide.”
Words appear: “$264 million in property tax relief. A 15 percent property tax cut statewide next year.”
Lee: “It provides real property tax relief – now.”
Susan Lessard, former town manager, Vinalhaven: “Let Augusta hear your voice.”
Lovejoy: “Please vote yes on 1A.”
Purpose: To solicit support for the referendum measure by appealing to voters through their local officials and citizens.
Accuracy: Rising property taxes are a concern for Maine taxpayers, who have the highest rate of home ownership in the country. The total amount of money raised through property taxes in Maine’s nearly 500 municipalities has increased each year over the past decade anywhere from less than 1 percent in 1998 to more than 8 percent in 2001, according to the Maine Municipal Association. There are no reported data showing how many people have had to sell their homes or faced foreclosure because they could not afford their property taxes.
In 1984, the Maine Legislature included a statement of intent in the school finance act stating that it would aim to fund 55 percent of K-12 public education costs. Since then, the state has not funded education to that level. The percentage the state pays has diminished over the past several years, but the actual dollars the state has contributed to education have risen each year since 1991. The decline in percentage of state funding may be one reason, but likely not the only reason, that property taxes have risen. Forcing the state to pay 55 percent of school costs would add $246 million in school funding next year, not $264 million, which was an earlier estimate. And the added money would not automatically reduce property taxes 15 percent because towns and cites have control over local spending.
Our view: Rising home assessments and property taxes, along with higher demands on the state’s education system, make Question 1A appealing.
If the measure passes, the state would face an additional education bill in excess of $246 million per year, on top of what it already spends. To meet that obligation, other state programs would have to be cut, taxes would have to be raised or both.
This ad promises more than Question 1A can deliver.
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