A new group focused on tax relief in Casco Bay met twice in early May, with over 100 people in attendance at both meetings. The group has split into six committees: Legal Action, Legislative Action, Coalition Building, Tax Relief, Publicity and Secession.

The Legal Action Committee began its first efforts in direct response to Portland’s latest re-valuation. In 1999, Portland, and thus Peaks Island, received 25 percent of its school funding from the state, while Windham received 40 percent from the state. The mean income in Portland is $35,650, while the mean income in Windham is $46,526. Thus Portland pays more but receives less from the state in return. The inequity is made worse by the fact that because Portland is a service center. Surrounding towns benefit from its infrastructure through shopping, use of Maine Medical Center or jobs in Portland, but do not contribute to the cost of the city’s infrastructure. A goal of the Legal Action Committee is to sue the state on grounds the tax structure is unfair.

One of the goals of the Legislative Action Committee is to expand the Circuit Breaker Program. Recently, the benefit cap was raised from $1,000 to $2,000. The committee would like to see the cap raised to $5,000.

The Coalition Building Committee recognizes the potential for change when like-minded groups work together. They are interested in collaborating with anyone who is concerned about property taxes, especially inland and northern communities. Chris Hoppin stated that because islands and coastal communities are already working together on a number of issues, his group is seeking to unite with others whose property taxes have increased dramatically, in hopes of advancing changes in Augusta. “Our group wants to find others who believe current taxes are unfair and work to change them,” Hoppin stated.

The Tax Relief Committee is more concerned with maintaining the neighborhood. Its goal is to keep people in the community, raising money through grass-roots fundraising efforts such as a goods and services auction or a cabaret. As committee member Cindy Pedliken put it, “we’re hoping we can do what needs to be done to help people stay in their homes.”

Part of the Publicity Committee’s function is to maintain communication between the committees as well as between the islanders and the mainland. Among other things, the committee has reserved a domain name for a website, www.selfdeterminationfor.us. The committee plans to keep an updated schedule of meetings on the site. Another feature will allow people to post letters to the editor, which can then be sent to newspapers across the state.

So far, the committee focusing on secession has the largest number of interested participants. Secession was discussed in depth at the meeting on May 3. Mark Greene and Steve Train, both from Long Island, shared their experiences with secession 12 years ago. Both emphasized the amount of time and work involved in the process, but agreed that they are glad that they did it.

Michele Tranes is an Island Institute Fellow on Peaks Island.