MECHANIC FALLS – People on all sides of a proposed property tax cap agreed during a Saturday forum that Maine’s Legislature has ignored local problems and has prompted drastic measures.

Given state officials’ response to the recently passed Question 1, which requires the state to fund 55 percent of total regular education costs plus 100 percent of special education costs, citizens believe that they’re being ignored.

Two candidates running for state legislative seats attended Saturday’s debate between tax-cap author Carol Palesky and Mechanic Falls Town Manager Dana Lee on Palesky’s referendum to limit property taxes.

James Simones of Lewiston, a Republican running for Senate District 17, and James Hamper of Oxford, a Republican running for House District 100, both heard that people want legislators to listen to them.

“I think our town is doing the best it can,” said Linda Harvey, a Mechanic Falls resident. “I’d like to know what the state is doing with our money.”

Simones said that the state has to deal with myriad issues that aren’t as simple as reducing property taxes and providing more education funding. He said that creating a positive business climate was also part of the mix.

“But if I were in office, I would have to deal with what the voters give me,” said Simones. “The legislator definitely needs to do the will of the people.”

Hamper said legislators have an obligation to enact the educational funding referendum that passed in June.

“There has been 30 years of control by one party,” said Hamper. “And they damn well do what they please.”

Hamper, however, said he believed that a tax cap alone would not solve the state’s budget problems and offer local tax relief. He said Maine also needs spending caps on all levels.

“Maine doesn’t have a revenue problem,” said Hamper. “It has a spending problem.”

Lee and local school officials blamed school funding problems on reduced federal contributions and mandated programs such as No Child Left Behind and Maine Learning Results.

The federal government has increased educational funding to Maine by 53.7 percent since 2001 under the No Child Left Behind initiative, according to the U.S. Department of Education statistics. Total federal education funding for Maine, which includes kindergarten-through-grade-12 and secondary education, has increased 38.9 percent, according to the federal Education Department’s budget tables.

Palesky’s tax-cap proposal would limit all towns to a mill rate of 10, with additional money allowed for local debt obligations. Lee cited budget figures that show 248 towns in Maine raising more than 10 mills just for schools.