JAY – Town officials have their eyes on Augusta and proposed tax reform.

Selectman and state Rep. Ray Pineau, D-Jay, said Monday that if Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal to eliminate personal property tax on equipment and machinery is approved, it would likely have a severe impact on the town and communities in Franklin County.

Pineau said the state brings in $190 million from personal property taxes. If personal property taxation is eliminated, Pineau said, one of the other ways of taxation, sales, income or property, would need to change to bring in the revenue that was lost.

If Jay loses its right to tax personal property, most other towns in the county would see their share of the county taxes increase while Jay’s decreases, Town Manager Ruth Marden said.

Marden plans to speak on taxes in a question-and-answer session at a Neighborhood Watch meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Building.

According to a tax document prepared by the town’s assessor for selectmen, if the town’s right to tax personal property is abolished a taxpayer paying $993.87 would see their tax bill jump to an estimated $1,824.82. A small business with a tax bill of $2,479.76 would see an estimated tax bill of $3,415.84.

A larger business like a paper mill would see its tax bill of $10.39 million drop to $3.18 million.

Using a 2002-03 tax rate computation without personal property tax, the town’s valuation would be $262 million and the tax rate would need to be set at $29.01 per $1,000 of valuation to raise $15.3 million for the town, school and Jay’s share of county government.

In 2003, personal property made up 72.23 percent of the town’s valuation.

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