AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci’s tax relief proposals were both praised and damned Tuesday during daylong public testimony at the State House.

A special legislative committee heard from more than three dozen speakers squeezed into a cramped hearing room, most of them representing industry, business, government and unions. Many credited Baldacci for seeking to ease the tax burden on Mainers. Most urged changes in the two bills, some minor, others major. A few said the bills should be scrapped.

Backers of a referendum passed in June that requires the state pay 55 percent of public education from kindergarten through grade 12 sharply criticized Baldacci for a planned four-year phase-in of that additional state money.

If passed as written, LD 1 would pay only 46 percent of approved school costs over the next fiscal year, said Geoff Herman, spokesman for the Maine Municipal Association. That would provide less than 5 percent in property tax relief over the same period, he said.

Rob Walker, president of Maine Education Association, said failure to honor the voter-approved measure by not fully funding 55 percent of school costs starting next year “flies in the face of voters.”

Several speakers representing Maine’s 380 farms endorsed LD 2, a constitutional amendment that would enable communities to tax family homesteads at historical land values. But they asked that the exemption be extended to include farms.

Coastal property owners, including lobster fishermen, also lauded the current-use plan.

David Cousins, president of the Maine Lobster Association, said he and his colleagues would be out of business within five years if property tax relief for waterfront owners were not passed soon.

Of Maine’s 4,000 miles of coastal property, only 17 miles is still working waterfront today due to development pressures that drive up land prices, he said.

“It’s pretty scary when you stop and think,” he said. “We’re just hangin’ on.”

Some said that exemption should be implemented statewide, otherwise it could create inequities from town to town where families with similar properties would be taxed at different levels.

Most of those who spoke supported proposed spending caps at all levels of government as outlined in Baldacci’s proposal. But some, like Barry Tibbets, town manager in Kennebunk, said the state should be held to the same spending limits as Maine’s towns and counties. As proposed, the Legislature could skirt the cap, unlike municipal and county governments. That would create a double standard, he said.

Herman, who also opposed that portion of the proposal, said: “Our policy is, What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.'”

Most speakers favored increasing the state’s Circuit Breaker program, which helps homeowners pay their property taxes depending on income, with many advocating even greater increases. But few liked the governor’s offer to lend upper-income residents the money to pay their taxes if they exceed 6 percent of their income. That only would serve to drive Mainers deeper into debt, they said.

Representatives of county government said budget caps that include jail costs are unrealistic. As inmate populations grow, so must jail spending.

The proposed limit of less than 3 percent is not enough, said Robert Howe, spokesman for the Maine County Commissioners Association.

“If you want to starve the beast of county government, this is the way to do it,” he said.

In order to cover those jail costs, several registers of deeds said they feared their departments would be “cannibalized.” That would have the devastating effect of slowing the real estate market, which relies on prompt access to deeds and other documents.

About a half-dozen speakers favored raising tax relief revenues through a 1 cent hike on the sales tax. A few said the sales tax base should be broadened to cover such products and services as ski lift tickets and haircuts.

The committee hopes to wrap up its review of the bills and present them to the full Legislature. A vote is expected by Jan. 20.