AUBURN – The former Republican legislator who wrote the Taxpayer Bill of Rights referendum told members of the Lewiston and Auburn school committees that if passed, no budgets would be cut.

The referendum says government budgets can’t grow more than inflation – adjusted by change in a district’s population – unless approved by voters in a local referendum.

If a school district’s population dropped, the worst that would happen is the budget would be frozen at the previous year’s amount, said Tarren Bragdon of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center.

He called the referendum a “reasonable measure” to limit future spending and relieve taxpayers living in the highest, or second-highest, taxed state.

So far, nothing else has worked, he said Wednesday.

Geoff Herman of the Maine Municipal Association disagreed.

TABOR is anything but reasonable, Herman said, adding a law passed several years ago, L.D. 1, is working to harness property taxes.

Pointing to language behind the referendum, Herman warned that the law would say local budgets would be driven by change in assessed property, or how much the population grew or shrunk, whichever is less.

The language does not guarantee budgets won’t be cut, he said.

And, there’s no way to know what the population is year to year, Herman argued. Census figures are merely projections, “and are never correct,” he said. Yet TABOR says that data is is what budgets should be based on.

“How reasonable are these formulas?” Herman asked.

Bragdon said government spending in Maine has risen faster than incomes. If Maine wants to change being a high-tax state, incomes must grow faster than spending.

Comparing property taxes of Lewiston and Auburn, Bragdon said from 2000 to 2005, Auburn had one of the highest tax burdens in the state, and higher than the national average.

Lewiston did not. Lewiston kept tax growth lower than income growth, and Lewiston has stayed within the growth allowed if TABOR passed, Bragdon said. Auburn’s tax growth has not stayed within the limits TABOR proposes, he said.

Herman didn’t disagree that Maine has high taxes, but said Maine’s law to limit property taxes is working. L.D. 1 and the state’s education formula, Essential Programs and Services, takes into consideration a school district’s special needs, Herman said. One example is nonEnglish-speaking students who have moved to Lewiston. EPS has given Lewiston more money to educate those students.

“TABOR comes along and pays zero attention to that,” Herman said. “TABOR is dysfunctional. … It is not a foundation upon which to build a house.”

The referendum should not be adopted on Nov. 7 with the expectation that there’ll be beneficial results, Herman said.

After timed presentations from both sides, committee members asked questions.

Auburn’s Justin Leary asked why shouldn’t cities and towns be able to decide locally if they should have TABOR?

Bragdon answered that the good work one community does in restraining spending could be offset by another that hikes spending. Unless all communities are forced to limit spending, Maine’s high-tax problem won’t be addressed, he said.

Lewiston’s Larry Lachance asked if a school district’s spending can’t be increased past inflation without a local referendum, what is a school district to do when energy and health care costs spike?

The same as taxpayers, Bragdon said, adding that taxpayers can’t increase their incomes.

Lewiston’s James Handy complained that under TABOR, if student enrollment grows in the middle of the year, a district would have to wait for a local referendum to boost spending. That could take months. Meanwhile schools are faced with having to provide education without the money, he said.

He asked what happens when a new school is built and the next budget has a new debt to pay for that loan?

That debt service payment would have to come out of the allowed budget, Herman said. “So you have to make cuts elsewhere.”

No time was given for questions from the audience.