A special tax reform panel has reached a broad consensus on spending caps, expanded refunds and other measures to ease Maine’s property tax burden, but Republicans were pressing for faster phase-in of funding for local schools, officials said Saturday.

A key sticking point that remained was whether additional school funding for local school districts would be phased in over four years, as proposed by Gov. John Baldacci, or over two years, as proposed by Republican lawmakers.

The full Legislature likely will have the final say under a series of alternatives that would accompany the main property tax relief bill, Sen. Joe Perry, D-Bangor, said Saturday as the 15-member panel resumed its work.

Speeding up the timetable for meeting education funding goals would cost $90 million beyond the governor’s two-year budget proposal, Perry said.

Baldacci is sticking by his desire for a four-year phase-in period, but he was staying out of the fray as the panel assembled Saturday.

“The governor believes a four-year phase-in is the best route and the most responsible route. But he’s going to wait and let the legislative process take its course before he weighs in,” said his spokesman, Lee Umphrey.

The 15-member Select Committee on Property Tax Reform missed its self-imposed Friday deadline for agreeing on a final proposal after consecutive late-night sessions. The panel reconvened late Saturday afternoon to continue sorting out details.

The panel agreed Saturday on a beefed-up circuit-breaker program, but there were many other details to be sorted out. Among them were how to structure spending caps on county and local governments, said state Planning Director Martha Freeman.

The primary tax reform bill will be similar to Baldacci’s proposal, which called for limiting property taxes to no more than 6 percent of income, capping spending at state, county and local levels of government, and providing targeted tax relief.

Baldacci’s original proposal would phase in over four years an increase in the state’s share of school costs from 43 to 55 percent, bringing it to 50 percent in fiscal 2007 and 55 percent in 2009, according to the administration.

An accompanying constitutional amendment would allow municipalities to value homestead land of principal residences at current use levels.

As of Saturday, staff members were ready to begin drafting the final bill with a four-year phase-in period; the panel also is expected to ask to be allowed to submit two to three alternatives for speeding up the phase-in, Perry said.

Baldacci, who released his two-year budget proposal on Friday, has made tax reform the first order of business for the new Legislature.

The aggressive timetable set by Baldacci would require the final bill to be submitted no later than Friday, Jan. 14, and for final passage by Jan. 20.

Baldacci and lawmakers are under pressure after voters approved an initiative last June designed to increase the state’s share of local schools to 55 percent. The measure was promoted as a means of offering property tax relief to local residents.

Voters defeated a percent property tax cap Nov. 2, but a renewed tax cap initiative is promised and two other tax relief referendums are in the works.

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