Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
MEETING WITH CONSTITUENTS — Sen. Roger Sherman, left, addresses an audience of about 30 individuals Friday evening at the Houlton Higher Education Center. To his left are Rep. Joyce Fitzpatrick and Rep. Henry Bear.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON — Town officials met with local legislators Friday evening at the Houlton Higher Education Center to express their concerns with Governor Paul LePage’s proposed 2014 and 2015 biennial budget.
Senator Roger Sherman and Representatives Joyce Fitzpatrick and Henry Bear met with about 35 constituents, most of whom were town officials from Houlton, Hodgdon, Littleton, Monticello, Hammond, Orient and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. Several private residents from other communities also attended.
Sen. Sherman said the meeting, which was similar to others being held around the state, may be premature since the full legislature has only just started the process of reviewing the budget.
“It’s no longer the Governor’s budget, it’s the legislature’s,” he said. “We have a good bipartisan budget committee who have been through this process before.”
“I know the piece that most of you are interested in is the revenue sharing,” Fitzpatrick said. “It was taken up, in a forum, once in Augusta and another in Brewer. They (the legislators) are listening. I’m here to listen, take notes and take them back to Augusta.”
Sherman sits on the agriculture committee, while Fitzpatrick serves on the insurance panel. Neither committee has a big impact in the budget, Fitzpatrick said. Rep. Bear, who is the Maliseet representative to the Legislature, is a non-voting member in Augusta.
“What do we do as legislators in this position?” Bear asked. “Other towns have met. We get letters every day. Towns are springing up and saying ‘whoa, this is too much, too fast.’ Many have adopted resolutions to the growing voice of opposition to the governor’s budget.”
Houlton Town Manager Eugene Conlogue stated the proposed budget would be “catastrophic” to the town of Houlton. The town stands to lose $600,000 in state revenue sharing. That loss alone would require a 2.06-mill increase to balance its budget.
Another big impact to local taxpayers is the elimination of the Homestead Exemption, which was adopted in 1997. Currently, eligible homeowners are entitled to a $10,000 exemption on their primary home.
In addition, the budget seeks to eliminate the commercial vehicle excise tax for local municipalities and instead transfer those funds to the Maine Department of Transportation. For Houlton, that would translate into a loss of $97,882.
The Houlton Town Council previously voted to draft letters to all of the area’s representatives asking them not to support the cost shift to the local municipalities.
The impact for Littleton residents is also significant. According to Town Manager Courtney Toby, the loss of revenue sharing, Homestead Exemption and excise tax would result in a 1.7-mill increase for her community. For a home valued at $100,000, that would result in a $300 increase to that resident’s tax bill. “Since 2008, the town of Littleton has seen an increase every year in back taxes owed, which has impacted the fiscal flow for the town,” Toby wrote in a letter presented to the lawmakers. “We have been utilizing surplus and tightening our budgets to try to save our taxpayers. We have seen the loss of many businesses in this area since the recession, and good-paying jobs are hard to find.”
Glen Hines, a selectman from Hammond, said his community has already seen an increase in education costs of nearly 50 percent over the past two years.
Houlton resident Fred Grant asked the representatives to consider alternatives to raising revenues so that the burden is distributed evenly.
“If there is this need to increase revenue for the state, I ask that you don’t place the sole burden on the municipalities and property owners in the state,” Grant said. “I ask you to consider doing it on a statewide basis so that all earners of income have an ability to share in the responsibility of where the state is currently at.”
Louise Beaulieu of Orient asked the representatives to take the following words of wisdom back to Augusta.
“Use common sense,” she said. “Don’t keep mandating without funding. We need fewer laws, not more.”
