AUGUSTA (AP) – Two days after the new Legislature was sworn in, leaders on Friday appointed members of a special committee that will start work early on the issue that’s been identified as a top priority for 2005: tax reform.

Four senators and 11 House members – split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, with one independent – will comprise the Joint Select Committee on Property Tax Reform.

“Property tax reform is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it is a Maine issue,” said House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, who announced the appointments with Senate President Beth Edmonds.

Democratic Sen. Dennis Damon of Trenton and independent Rep. Richard Woodbury of Yarmouth were appointed co-chairs of the committee. The two said they plan to hold an organizational meeting next week and a public hearing the following week.

Legislative committees customarily don’t meet until January, and members of the regular standing committees had not even been assigned as of Friday.

“I am glad to see the committee chairs are getting right to work so we can meet our goal of bringing legislation to a vote by Jan. 20,” said Edmonds, D-Freeport.

She said “we have already found plenty of common ground” on the issue.

House Republicans said they were pleased with the choices for GOP membership.

“Republicans appreciate that the committee was structured in a bipartisan manner,” said House Minority Leader David Bowles, R-Sanford. “We believe the tax panel will move forward in a bipartisan manner.”

Reducing property taxes has emerged as a top priority for the new session.

Voters rejected a property tax cap a month ago, but other initiatives to control spending and taxes have been launched.

Gov. John Baldacci has also submitted his own 70-page reform bill, which combines increases in state aid for local education with curbs on government spending at all levels.

It seeks to reduce taxes for many who pay more than 6 percent of their income on property taxes. A constitutional amendment submitted by the Democratic governor would allow municipalities to tax some homes at lower rates, allowing property owners to defer some of their tax payment until they sell.

Some of Baldacci’s proposals are similar to those that have drawn broad approval from legislators from all sides in the past, Woodbury said. The committee will take up both of the governor’s bills.

Damon said Baldacci’s bills “give us a great foundation on which to build.”

Baldacci was also pleased to see lawmakers moving expeditiously on the taxes, said spokesman Lee Umphrey.