AUGUSTA (AP) – The Legislature’s special tax panel concluded its deliberations with a dizzying series of votes, offering a glimpse at what will be possible in the Senate and House of Representatives this week when rank-and-file lawmakers take up a complicated property tax relief package designed to spread higher amounts of state aid to school districts around the state.

A reworked version of Gov. John Baldacci’s original proposal was given an 11-3 endorsement late Friday night, with four Republicans joining the Democrats and independent Rep. Richard Woodbury of Yarmouth to form a Joint Select Committee on Property Tax Reform majority.

Committee minorities twice voted to speed up the pace of a move to increase the state’s share of local education costs to 55 percent, once with four members in support of a sales tax increase to cover the additional cost of an accelerated ramp-up.

Leaders of the Democratic majorities of the Legislature were on hand to monitor the final voting and expressed satisfaction with the outcome and optimism over the prospects for enactment.

“The select committee rewrote the governor’s bill to provide significant K-12 funding,” Senate Majority Leader Michael Brennan, D-Portland, said in a statement. “The committee also made noteworthy changes to the original bill, addressing short term adjustments to smaller, rural schools.”

Brennan’s prepared message touched on all the basic points that Baldacci has been voicing.

“The bill provides direct property tax relief, doubles the Circuit Breaker property tax deduction, and almost doubles the Homestead exemption. It also provides uniform spending caps at all levels of government: state, county and municipal. This bill will send to the voters a series of constitutional amendments that will reshape the way property (is) taxed from Kittery to Fort Kent,” Brennan said.

Critics contend that enforcement mechanisms for the spending caps envisioned in the measure are inadequate.

A state limit would be tied to personal income growth and population growth, while municipalities and counties would be capped based on personal income growth plus growth in new property valuations, Democratic analysts say.

According to the office of House Speaker John Richardson, the state cap would be about 3.1 percent this year if the contemplated limits were in effect and local caps would average around 3.3 percent.

Republican Sen. Richard Rosen of Bucksport said his dissent on the select committee laid out options for consideration in crafting a legislative response to last June’s statewide referendum vote in favor of a bigger and immediate boost in state school aid.

Richardson, D-Brunswick, and Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, have called for final action by the full Legislature by Thursday. Based on the experience of the select committee, that is likely to be a long day.

AP-ES-01-15-05 1308EST

Copy the Story Link