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10/14/09
School Board, Town Council resolutions oppose excise tax, TABOR II state referendums
Cape Elizabeth officials are urging a "No" vote on two initiatives that could severely hamper the town's ability to deliver municipal and educational services.
Two resolutions passed by both the Town Council and the School Board this week encourage voters to become fully informed on both measures, and to join them in voting "No" on state referendum Question 2 and Question 4. Both appear on the November state referendum ballot.
Question 2, a proposal to decrease the automobile excise tax and to promote energy efficiency, would reduce excise tax on cars newer than six years, but would also severely cut excise tax revenue that the town uses to fund road maintenance and repair.
Question 4, a revision of the Tax Payer Bill of Rights (TABOR) spending-limit initiative defeated in 2006, would change existing formulas limiting state and local government spending, and require voter approval for spending over those limits and for increases in state taxes.
The resolution opposing TABOR II, passed in separate votes by both the council and the School Board, says that current limits on state and local government spending have achieved their purpose. It also faults the new initiative for proposing costly referendums, and for using fiscal 2010, a budget year defined by deep recession, as a baseline for all future growth in state spending.
The resolution opposing the excise tax reduction, also passed in separate votes, predicts serious impacts on services or increases in property tax as a result of fallen revenue.
If passed by state voters, the measure would reduce revenue from excise tax, the third largest revenue source for Cape Elizabeth, by approximately 45 percent, decreasing the $1.69 million annual revenue by $758,000, the resolution says. "To replace this lost revenue through property taxation would require the town to increase its property tax rate by 57 cents per $1,000 of assessed value," the resolution says.
The language of the Town Council and School Board resolutions were drafted by Town Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta and School Board member Rebecca Millett. The School Board unanimously approved the resolutions at their meeting Oct. 13, 2009; the council approved nearly identical language the following night.
The council's versions, however, include a paragraph calling for local elected officials to continue "reasonable restraint" on spending and tax increases, so that citizen-imposed external restraints are not necessary.
Councilor David Backer, who proposed the additional paragraph, said the wording asks voters to enter into a partnership with those they elect.
"My sense is if we're going to ask voters to reject some kind of external restraint on our own ability to increase taxes or if we're going to ask voters to reject a cut in the excise tax, we have to give them something in return," he said.
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