When it comes to the governor's proposed budget for the state of Maine, the town of Damariscotta has some worries.

The Damariscotta board of selectmen spoke Wednesday with Sen. Chris Johnson, D-Somerville, about the looming biennial budget and more specifically, where the money is likely to come from.

Specifically, with reductions to revenue sharing, where approximately $91,000 of the municipal budget will come from.

With the biennial budget in sight, towns will have to decide how a potential shortfall created with the loss of revenue sharing is refilled.

Selectman David Atwater said that while Augusta might realize some savings, the cost will likely be pushed down to the local level.

“With the revenue sharing issue, the thing that has troubled me has been the governor saying that municipal budgets have gone up half a billion dollars in the last 10 years,” he said. “I was just curious if you knew how much the state's budget has gone up during the same time.”

Atwater said that adding to the property tax rate would be especially painful for Lincoln County, which has been the oldest county in Maine (in terms of population age), and that a property tax is especially hard for retired people living on a fixed income.

Selectman Jim Cosgrove asked Johnson if marijuana could be looked at as a possible source of income for the state.

“Some proponents say it could (cover the shortfall),” Cosgrove said.

“I don't buy that argument,” Johnson said. “I think (marijuana legalization) is something that needs to be a policy, and that's something that's more a question of 'Should we?' or 'Shouldn't we?'

“If anything, we want to look into something that has more of a track record.”

Town Manager Matt Lutkus said that if nonprofits were taxed, then it would virtually cover all the money lost from revenue sharing. The topic of tax-exempt properties has been a frequent fixture of talks, not only in Damariscotta, but at the state level.

“For us, it's pretty much a wash,” Lutkus said. “We'd be getting $91,000 from revenue sharing and the total (in taxes) from tax-exempt properties is $300,000.”

Lutkus added that if revenue sharing was currently at the levels the town expected them to be, Damariscotta’s share would be approximately $150,000.

After the school gets its share of the tax money, the town would be left with approximately $100,000 if tax-exempt entities, such as nonprofits, churches and portions of Miles Memorial Hospital, were taxed, Lutkus said.

But, if nonprofits are taxed, they might not be around for very long, Cosgrove added. Instead, the state should focus on taxes aimed towards tourists and “summer people” such as taxes on lodging and rental cars.

“I feel like we should be going after people who use our infrastructure but who aren't paying taxes,” he said. “Otherwise, this feels like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Johnson said that while higher taxes on lodging wouldn’t dissuade tourists, it was just one of several possible solutions.

While there are potential problems with lodging taxes, Johnson admitted that taxing tax-exempt entities could also backfire.

If services, such as land trusts, were to leave due to high taxes, then a good portion of the quality of life goes with them, Johnson said.