AUGUSTA – A property tax relief package that had drawn cautious support within a special legislative committee won final approval Friday night by a majority of the panelists.

Meeting a deadline with an 11-3 vote, the Joint Select Committee on Property Tax Reform cleared the way for the measure to be brought before the full Legislature next week.

“All Maine residents can achieve reduced property taxes under this legislation,” Gov. John Baldacci said in a statement.

Some skeptics have suggested that spending caps on various levels of government built into the legislation may prove ineffective.

Following its recent pattern, the committee extended deliberations into the night as members alternately approved some provisions for inclusion in the panel’s recommendations and set more divisive matters aside.

Democratic Rep. Edward Dugay of Cherryfield, during a dinner break that featured private discussions among various groups of lawmakers, likened the committee’s arduous path of negotiations to the Iditarod.

A 12-member majority of the 15-member committee had tentatively agreed on a wide-ranging measure late Monday, but new questions arose Friday as lawmakers went over details and language drafted into new legislation.

The committee had been given until Friday to finish its work. Once forwarded to the full Legislature, House and Senate leaders want rank-and-file votes by the end of next week.

Agreed on setting government spending caps, committee members continued to debate mechanisms Friday through which curbs on spending could be overridden by local officials.

The full committee endorsed increased school aid as a way to ease upward pressure on local property tax rates, although a three-member committee minority favored accelerating the so-called funding ramp-up to hike the state share of local school costs to 55 percent over two years, rather than four years.

“I voted for what I thought was the message from the citizens,” said Republican Sen. Richard Rosen of Bucksport, alluding to the passage of a school funding referendum question last June that called for an immediate school aid hike.

As proposed in the package, maximum benefits in the income-linked circuitbreaker program for property taxpayers would go up from $1,000 to $2,000. Families earning up to $100,000 would be eligible for the program.

The committee was also backing a near doubling of a Homestead program to make all Maine homeowners eligible for a $13,000 exemption, with the state and municipalities splitting the costs.

House Speaker John Richardson expressed dinnertime optimism that a solid committee majority would report out a package and was among a number of legislative leaders, including Senate President Beth Edmonds, who monitored the committee’s final session.

“By steering clear of the extremes and focusing on the common ground, the committee has come up with a plan that will give direct and immediate tax relief to every Mainer,” Richardson said in a statement following the committee’s final vote.

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