Since Gov. Paul LePage announced his biennial budget proposal in January that would eliminate state revenue sharing across the state, local municipalities have already started weighing the significant impact it could have on town budgets and taxpayers.

While the Maine State Legislature is scheduled to tackle the issue in June, local boards of selectmen have already considered actions that could help minimize the effects of the budget cuts.

On March 11, the Boothbay Board of Selectmen heard Alex Jackimovicz of Boothbay propose a resolution to oppose LePage’s budget cuts.

Jackimovicz, a co-founder and organizer for the Alliance for Economic Democracy, proposed a sample resolution to the selectmen that urged municipalities to support more sensible revenue raising proposals, and to reject LePage’s budget cuts.

Selectman Steven Lewis said while he disagrees with LePage on slashing municipal revenue sharing completely, he didn’t want to chastise the governor’s entire budget proposal.  

“I’m a firm believer that the state needs to get the house in order,” Lewis said.

Currently, LePage’s budget cuts are estimated to eliminate $283 million in municipal revenue sharing state-wide. The town of Boothbay could lose up to nearly $100,000 in revenue, according to estimates from the Maine Municipal Association. Additionally, property and income taxes could see an increase, while general assistance programs and commercial excise revenue could take a hit.

“While Augusta does need to pinch their pennies a little bit better, they need to find a better way of doing it,” Selectman Chuck Cunningham said. “They have to make some cuts in Augusta, but they can’t do it off the backs of the taxpayers.”

Boothbay Town Manager Jim Chaousis said there are a lot of people in municipal management right now who are upset over the potential loss of revenue sharing.

“The problem I have is criticizing the budget without an alternative,” Chaousis said. “The only alternatives that I’ve heard is raise sales tax and raise income tax. There’s been no cuts to spending, and I think that’s where the issue is, is that spending is a little bit out of control.”

Jackimovicz suggested to the board that instead of rejecting all of LePage’s cuts,  they could propose a resolution that focused primarily on opposing the municipal revenue sharing cuts, which could provide testimony for the state legislature.

The board of selectmen agreed that they would be more receptive to the latter proposal, and would consider a resolution that only addressed the cuts to municipal revenue sharing. Discussion on the resolution will continue at the next selectmen's meeting, scheduled for Monday, March 25.