LEWISTON – Confused about the Palesky tax-cap referendum on the Nov. 2 ballot?

The Sun Journal will host a public debate and question-and-answer session Thursday at Lewiston Middle School.

The debate will start at 7 p.m. and will be moderated by Karl Trautman, chairman of the social sciences department at Central Maine Community College. The debaters are:

• Peter Geiger, executive vice president of Geiger, a Lewiston manufacturing firm employing 500. He will represent Citizens United to Protect our Public Safety, Schools and Communities, one of the organizations urging defeat of the Palesky initiative.

• Tom McBrierty of Scarborough, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development from 1995 to 1998 under Gov. Angus King. He will represent Tax Cap YES!, one of the groups working to pass the referendum.

Question 1, the tax-cap initiative drive spearheaded by Topsham tax reformer Carol Palesky, would limit property taxes to 1 percent of a property’s assessed value in 1996.

Maine homeowners paid an average of $2,113 last year in real estate taxes, according to the Maine Revenue Service. Property taxes in Maine are proportionately higher than other states.

Tax-cap proponents say local governments would cut nonessential services if the tax cap passes, but many city and town officials predict that services like police and fire protection would be slashed.

Trautman received his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii in 1992. He has taught political science at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan.; Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich. He has published two books.

Geiger has been editor of the Farmers’ Almanac since 1994. A 1973 graduate of Villanova University, he has a passion for education. He chaired the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education and served on the state’s Board of Education for five years, chairing it from 1996 to 1997.

He established an Adopt-A-School Program involving his company and Montello Elementary School in 1988, and has championed similar business/school partnerships throughout Maine.

McBrierty graduated from Colby College. In addition to his service in the King administration, McBrierty has been a vice president for Maine for New England Telephone. He currently operates his own consulting business, McBrierty & Associates in Portland.