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Cutting $84 million in revenue represents a 7 percent reduction for municipalities – not exactly a trifle.

JEFFREY AUSTIN November 1, 2009

The editors of the Maine Sunday Telegram surprisingly chose to endorse Question 2 on the November ballot by saying the "auto excise tax could stand to be trimmed."

Question 2 cuts the excise rates by an average of 55 percent for the minority of Mainers who drive newer cars and creates a complete exemption for the owners of hybrid-type vehicles for the first three years of ownership. It reduces municipal revenues by $84 million per year.

The editorial correctly pointed out that this revenue is used to cover the $230 million annual cost to plow, sand, repair and maintain 14,000 miles of local roads and over 850 local bridges. Cutting local road budgets by well over one-third is inaccurately described as a "trimming" – it's a drubbing.

The editors misleadingly portray this reduction as a mere 2 percent of local budgets.

By law, municipalities collect property tax dollars used to fund Maine's 200-plus school districts and 16 counties, which are governmental entities that Maine's towns do not directly control.

Excise tax revenue, on the other hand, helps fund the municipal side of the ledger – roads, solid waste, police and fire protection, etc. Therefore the impacts of this cut will be on the "municipal side" of local budgets. A reduction of $84 million from the municipal side of the budget represents a 7 percent reduction to municipal spending, which is hardly a trifle.

The editorial ends by suggesting that local road budgets should not be cut by $84 million.

Instead, municipalities should "find economies in other spending categories" and use those savings to pay for roads and bridges.

Voters in Maine deserve to hear from proponents regarding exactly where this $84 million reduction should come from. Which local service should be "economized?" Education? Public safety?

The editors slough off the hard work of identifying how the local budgets should be cut in order to provide the owners of new cars and specialty cars this sizable tax break.

The conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center, which is spearheading the "yes" campaign, published a report one year ago pointing out that Maine's local governments are some of the most frugal in the country.

When local spending is calculated on a per capita basis or as a percentage of total income, Maine local government is in the bottom 10 nationally. To put this in context, Maine municipalities spend less than local government in Mississippi by both metrics.

Along with the state's major environmental groups, the Maine State Chamber and the Portland, Bangor and Androscoggin regional Chambers of Commerce have all opposed Question 2.

Each has acknowledged what the editors of the Press Herald have missed – that Question 2 will lead to higher property taxes for everyone while providing a tax break for a few.

Identifying efficiencies is an ongoing process in which local officials are constantly engaged. The municipalities invite you to participate. At the same time, we believe most Mainer's don't share your apparent goal of knocking Maine's local government spending to the absolute bottom.

Please vote "no" on Question 2.