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"School Committee member Dick Gould unanimously endorsed question 1A at their meeting tonight. (Monday, October 20th)", said Town Manager John Simko. "I attended a gave a brief presentation on this initiative, including the Board of Selectmen's resolution (attached) supporting this initiative." "The Board of Selectmen had a citizen appear before them at their last meeting, asking what the Board of Selectmen and the Town Manager are doing to lower property taxes in Greenville over the long term. The answer given is to support comprehensive tax reform measures as proposed in Question 1A, and also through expanding the property tax base through economic development initiatives. It is clear that 1C does nothing to help our cause, and 1B would actually DIMINISH general purpose aid for education statewide in the next two years, with no greater promise that 55% of the total cost of K-12 education will be funded by the state then we have had over the past 19 years. The only proposal which will offer any immediate and actual relief is 1A. "Simko went on to say, "I intend to write an editorial for the local papers, supporting 1A. Steve, Dick - I encourage you each to join me in authoring such an editorial.If this passes, MMA and the Maine Department of Education each estimate Greenville would receive about $400,000 more in GPA in FY04 than we would with the status quo. If 1B passes, estimates show Greenville would actually receive less than the status quo. Even if this estimate proves to be high, any positive increase in GPA will be a welcome change in Greenville, which has seen annual erosion of its GPA allocation. I urge each of you to support 1A, for the good of our community and all communities in the State of Maine. "For more information about this proposal, please come to the 7:00 PM MMA Tax Reform Informational Meeting at the Monson Elementary School this Thursday, October 23, 2003. John SimkoTown Manager, GreenvilleMember, MMA Legislative Policy Committee WHEREAS, Maine relies too heavily on the property tax to pay for Kindergarten through Grade 12 education; and WHEREAS, the State's tax structure is too “volatile”, resulting in an unpredictability of state tax revenues that significantly disrupts both state and local efforts to budget governmental resources; and WHEREAS, the alignment of tax burden among the property tax, sales tax and income taxes is seriously out of balance; and WHEREAS, Maine's overall tax burden is a matter of great concern to residents and businesses; and WHEREAS, Maine's tax structure should be changed to reduce the State's reliance on the local property tax to fund K-12 education and special education costs, reduce the volatility of Maine's tax code, more equitably re-align the tax burden among the state's three major tax revenue sources, and allow the Legislature to develop a plan to reduce Maine's overall tax burden; and NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: THAT the Town of Greenville Board of Selectmen hereby supports the proposed tax reform initiative of the Maine Municipal Association entitled, “An Act To Reduce Local Property Taxes Statewide” which will appear on general election ballots statewide November 4, 2003.
BOARD OF SELECTMEN TOWN OF GREENVILLE ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ A true copy attest: ___________________________ |