The final, deciding referendum on Question 1A must be held no later than June 8.

AUGUSTA (AP) – Another election on tax reform in Maine must be held no later than June 8, giving Gov. John Baldacci and legislative leaders less time to try to craft an alternative proposal.

The advisory opinion from Attorney General Steven Rowe’s office means the final, deciding referendum on Question 1A can’t be delayed until next November, as Baldacci had suggested after the election.

Question 1A won the right to a stand-alone election when it got more votes than each of two competing options.

It would require the state to immediately boost spending to 55 percent of the cost of local schools.

Question 1B called for a phased-in increase in state school aid. Question 1C would have rejected both plans.

The theory behind Question 1A and Question 1B is that more state aid for local schools will curb local reliance on the property tax and allow cities and towns to lower property taxes.

The campaign pitted the Maine Municipal Association and the Maine Education Association against the governor and state lawmakers, who put forth Question 1B as an alternative proposal.

Linda Pistner, the chief deputy attorney general, told the Legislature’s Taxation Committee Thursday that the Constitution requires a stand-alone election on Question 1A by June 8.

The Legislature cannot block that follow-up referendum or place a competing plan on the June ballot, Pistner said.

But, she said, the Legislature can pass its own tax-relief law before then, if it does so by two-thirds votes.

That left lawmakers from both parties breathing a sigh of relief because they want to work with the municipal association and the teachers’ union to come up with a new plan before June 8 that has the support of the entire political establishment.

The thinking is that if Baldacci and the Legislature join forces with the MMA and the MEA to pass a meaningful tax-relief law, the united front could persuade voters to reject Question 1A next June.

“I think there’s room to develop some kind of solution that everyone can get behind,” said Senate President Beverly Daggett, D-Augusta.

The municipal association and the teachers’ union have a compelling reason to work with the governor and Legislature on a new tax-relief plan, even if that means abandoning Question 1A. All of those parties fear yet another tax-relief plan that may be on the ballot next November.

That plan, proposed by the Maine Taxpayers Action Network, would cap property taxes at $10 per $1,000 of valuation, plus an allowance to pay off existing municipal debt. Supporters have submitted petitions to the state to force a referendum in November 2004, but the Secretary of State’s Office has not yet certified the signatures on those petitions.

“People are scrambling to find a consensus to defeat” the tax cap, on the assumption it may be on the ballot in November 2004, said Christopher St. John of the Maine Center for Economic Policy.

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