LEWISTON – If Maine voters approve the cap referendum in November, parts of that new law should be changed by state lawmakers, spokesmen for the tax-cap referendum said Wednesday.

Phil Harriman and Mark Gartley of Tax Cap YES! said two provisions of the proposed law warrant revision:

• They agree with a non-binding court opinion that the law’s call to roll back assessed property values to 1997 would be unconstitutional. That part of the bill should go, Harriman said.

• Property tax bills should include residents’ share of existing municipal debt, even if that debt was not directly approved by voters, the men said. If the referendum’s language excludes that debt, as some say it does, that too should be changed, Gartley said.

“Neither Phil nor I will say to you that this is ideal. It isn’t,” he said.

But capping taxes to 1 percent of a property’s value cannot be changed and must stay, both men insisted. “It’s the heart and soul” of the referendum, Harriman said during a meeting with the Sun Journal’s editorial board and reporters.

In a phone interview Wednesday, tax cap author Carol Palesky of Topsham said she and the Maine Taxpayers Action Network approve of changes suggested by Tax Cap YES!

“I would agree with them,” Palesky said. Referring to the rollback to 1997 values, “We put that in as an extra,” Palesky said, adding she now understands how it could be unfair.

She agreed with Harriman, however, that the 1 percent cap “can’t be changed. That would have to stay.”

Two-thirds vote

The referendum’s language also indicates that any attempt by Maine voters to change the law’s 1 percent tax cap, once passed, would require a two-thirds vote. Traditionally, referendums require a simple majority.

Asked for his opinion on the fairness of the provision given the tax-cap referendum itself will only need a majority vote for passage, Harriman said he wasn’t sure, that he hadn’t thought about it.

Harriman and Gartley said that in the last 10 years, state and municipal governments have been spending beyond taxpayers’ ability to pay. Towns and city governments “have been trying to one-up” each other in having the best schools, bigger and better town halls and libraries, the best recreation facilities, without worrying if taxpayers can afford it, they said.

Harriman, who by profession is a financial planner, is a former state senator from Yarmouth. Gartley of Westbrook works for U.S. Cellular, and is a former secretary of state under the late Gov. James Longley.

Both said the proposed tax cap referendum is far from perfect, but that the plea from property taxpayers has been ignored by local and state lawmakers.

The referendum “is needed to send a message,” Gartley said.

He compared the referendum to a two-by-four. Citizens happy with the status quo should reject the tax cap, they said. But for homeowners who want their municipal and legislative officials to understand “we can’t take anymore, this is the only vehicle we’ve got,” Gartley said. “They have no plan.”