AUGUSTA – Carol Palesky, the force behind a proposed property tax cap in Maine, was delighted with the Legislature’s decision to put her referendum question on the ballot in November rather than June.

“We’re thrilled it will be on the ballot in November, because the turnout will probably be over half-a-million voters,” Palesky said Thursday. “In June, the turnout will be very light. We were opposed to it being on the June ballot.”

Palesky and the Maine Taxpayers Action Network gathered enough signatures to place a proposal on the ballot to limit property tax assessments to 1 percent of a property’s value, as assessed in 1997.

The referendum was expected to be on the November ballot, unless legislators decided to put it on the June ballot. Earlier this month the Senate voted for a June date, but on Wednesday the House disagreed, sending the proposal to voters in November.

Palesky said a November vote will give more time for an organized campaign, which the MTAN will kick off at a June 5 lawn party in Falmouth.

Gov. John Baldacci was also pleased that the tax cap referendum will be decided on Nov. 2. “This is good,” Baldacci said Thursday. “It will give people an opportunity to examine it, ask questions. Something that has that kind of impact, you want to fully explore. People in Maine know you can’t get something for nothing. They’re not going to be sold on a 30-second sound bite.”

Tax cap proponents have said something must be done about rising property taxes, which they say in some cases are forcing people out of their homes. Opponents have countered that if the measure passes, it would cause a reduction in tax collections severe enough to devastate towns and cities, forcing schools or police departments to close.

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