Mechanic Falls – Town officials want to make sure that local voters don’t eliminate the town at the ballot box in their frustration with high property taxes.

Residents can expect, sometime soon, a brochure on how upcoming competing tax measures will affect Mechanic Falls. Town Manager Dana Lee said he is working on preparing voter information.

The brochure will include pros and cons to the Question 1A, which will be on the June ballot and calls for 55 percent of Maine’s total education costs to come from state coffers.

It will also address Carol Palesky’s referendum, not yet scheduled for June or November, which calls for a 1 percent cap on property taxes.

The third scenario is a compromise funding plan in the hands of state legislators, said Lee. It would require the state to reach the 55 percent education funding level within five years and would require by law specific funding increases for each of the five phase-in years.

“If Palesky’s plan is passed, we can forget about municipal government,” said Lee. “That means that there will be no road crews, no police department, no library. It would have an absolutely destructive effect on Mechanic Falls.”

Lee noted that town officials recognized voter anxiety over rising taxes, and that the Palesky referendum is a product of voter frustration. Town Council members directed Lee this week to prepare information on all tax and ballot options for voters.

A draft letter from the council to Mechanic Falls voters stated that the town raised $2.2 million in taxes in 2003. Of those funds, $1.4 million went to finance Elm Street School and about $600,000 went to municipal services. The balance went to expenses outside the town.

According to Lee’s figures, the town would receive no money and the school would get 32 to 50 percent less if the Palesky referendum passed. Figures for the other two options are being prepared to include in the town brochure.

Lee has been in the forefront with the Maine Municipal Association in pushing for a larger state share in education funding. The MMA, along with the Maine Education Association, is backing the 1A measure. They also back efforts in the Legislature for a five-year compromise, Lee said. Negotiations with Gov. John Baldacci to reach such a compromise fell through earlier this year, he said.

“If the tax cap referendum passes, we couldn’t survive,” said Mary Martin, principal at Elm Street School. “We’re already having a hard time with our budget.”

The 2004-05 education budget calls for a $1.80 tax increase over the current $29.65 per $1,000 in assessed property value, while at the same time cutting staff and capital improvements. The town budget is asking for no tax increase.

The Town Council and the Mechanic Falls School Committee will hold a joint public hearing on their respective 2004-05 budgets on Wednesday, April 28. The hearing will start at 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of the Elm Street School.