The business of property tax reform must mean that there are no sacred cows. I am advocating that property tax reform must include reshaping county government for three reasons:

• County government costs are rising faster than any other property tax supported program;

• Reshaped counties will save property taxpayers millions of dollars; and

• It’s time for lawmakers to step up and say what spending they will cut.

The response to this idea has been overwhelmingly positive from everyone except people who have a vested interest in the status quo.

Mainers I have heard from believe that our current system makes little sense with regard to our smaller counties. Few people I have talked to have any idea how the counties are funded, and they certainly do not feel that they have any control over their budgets.

When the pundits dismiss this proposal because it takes away local control, my response is “What local control?”

Local control is a complete myth when it comes to county government.

Over the last 10 years property, taxes in Maine have risen 53 percent, twice the rate of inflation. Municipal government has held the increase close to the rate of inflation, while county government has gone up three times faster than inflation.

This should not come as a surprise to any one. The Legislature has known for years of the need to reform county government, it has just lacked the political will.

Thirty years ago, when the Sen. Joe Brennan created full-time prosecutors, he realized it wasn’t practical for 16 counties to foot this bill. So he created eight prosecutorial districts. It worked well from the beginning, but it has never occurred to the Legislature to extend consolidation to other services.

Over the last 15 years, we have had two studies calling on the Legislature to move county government to a fee for service system, end or cut back its reliance on property taxes and have the state take responsibility for jails.

What has been the result? Nothing. Zero movement.

Combining county services in more equal size units will save money, because the bigger the county the lower cost per taxpayer.

If you live in Franklin County, you pay almost twice the county taxes, for non jail services, that you would pay if you lived in Androscoggin County. Piscataquis, the smallest county, costs every resident taxpayer three times as much.

If we combined the four midcoast counties of Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo, as is done for the prosecutorial district, we would approach the tax and population base of one of Maine’s larger counties. It should come as no surprise that operating four registries of deeds is more expensive that operating one. That’s just one example of how costs could be reduced.

The increasing costs of county jails is even a stronger case for reform. I have some experience with this issue from my work on behalf of people with mental illness. State government has heaped more and more on these local institutions to the point that we must abandon the idea of a jail in nearly every county. We need four or five jails statewide, and we need the ability to have these facilities take advantage of specialization.

Using mental illness as an example, instead of 15 jails equipped to deal with inmates with mental illness, four or five regional jails could do a much better job. Likewise, we could move many of the people now held in county jails to low security institutions where the per inmate costs are lower.

I recently traveled to all seven towns in my district listening to taxpayers’ views on the governor’s tax proposal. Voters are troubled that not one of the governor’s proposals calls for cutting anything now. The promise of reduced expenditures is all wrapped up in proposed spending caps.

The Republicans are in the same place except they want the caps in the constitution.

I believe that caps can help empower taxpayers to control spending, and I am dedicated to working to find a compromise with my Republican colleagues, but cutting property taxes requires reducing spending now.

A good part of Maine’s property taxes are paid by out-of-staters who own our expensive shore-front property. If we just shift property taxes to other taxes, then the overall tax burden borne by Maine taxpayers will actually go up.

That means we must figure out ways to cut expenditures, and I believe the public is right to be skeptical of politicians in both parties who are unwilling to come forward and propose anything.

We’ll find few choices as painless as reforming county government and voters might well use the response to this idea as a barometer of just how serious the Legislature is about tax reform

State Rep. Barbara Merrill, D-Appleton, can be contacted through her Web site at www.barbaramerrill.com.

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