By Zack Anchors

Staff Writer

    Among the more than 2,400 legislative proposals that
Maine lawmakers have submitted to be considered for the 2007
legislative session in Augusta are five diverse initiatives originating
from South Portland. Before the deadline for legislative proposals on
Dec. 15 City Manager Thaddeus Jankowski compiled a list of ideas for
potential new laws that would benefit the city and submitted the list
to the city’s state legislative delegation. Among those offering
suggestions for new laws were Fire Chief Kevin Guimond, Assistant City
Manager Jim Gailey, City Councilor Linda Boudreau and City Councilor
Jim Soule. Although the legislative agenda begins this week in Augusta,
it may be months before any of the proposals that originate from the
South Portland become transformed into bills, if they make it that far.

    Chief Guimond wants the legislature to consider
passing a bill that would allow emergency vehicles to pass through the
tollbooths on the State Turnpike without having to pay a fee.
Currently, the vehicles only get through free when they are on the way
to an emergency. Guimond says the fire department uses the Turnpike
frequently as a means of getting to Maine Emergency Management meetings
and repair services. Because the city provides free fire, hazardous
materials and EMS coverage for the Turnpike, Guimond believes it would
be fair if the emergency vehicles were exempt from tolls. Under the
proposed law, the exemption would apply to any municipality that
provides free emergency services for the Maine Turnpike Authority.

    After the city council expressed interest last year
in looking at potential ways the city could improve the energy
efficiency of its buildings and vehicles, Assistant City Manager Jim
Gailey began searching for ways to identify areas in which the city
could make effective changes. After some research, Gailey found that
the best starting point would be an extensive “energy audit” of the
city’s operations.

    “That audit would look not only at the city buildings, but also at the city’s vehicle fleet,” said Gailey.

    However, such an audit would likely cost around
$30,000 to $40,0000, a sum Gailey said the city simply could not
afford. Gailey realized that if a city like South Portland could not
pay for such a service it was likely that many other municipalities
across the state faced similar limitations. That gave him the idea of
putting forth a legislative proposal that would provide some means of
state-assistance to municipalities conducting “energy audits.” 

    “Maybe it would be paid 50/50 or maybe it would be
80/20, but it would be enough of an offset to make there an incentive
for communities to do this,” Gailey said.

    The initiative is being proposed as a model program
that would provide some type of funding each year for five to ten
municipalities that are seeking ways of operating with increased energy
efficiency.

    City Councilor Jim Soule has made clear in public
comments that he thinks the state’s approach to funding for education
is currently unfair and that the state is not chipping in enough.

    A legislative initiative that he spurred would help
address that matter by using relative median local income as a factor
in determining the share of local funding.

    The state’s Essential Programs and Services school
funding model would be preserved, but instead of relying on the
“maximum mill rate expectation system” to determine state and local
shares, there would be a return to the recently discontinued system
based on relative property value and relative median income.

    The City Council has spent considerable time lately
dealing with a controversy over what to do with Edgewood Road—a street
that begins in South Portland and ends in Cape Elizabeth and has caused
a great deal of animosity between the two municipalities. At a recent
workshop,  Bourdeau brought up the idea of putting forward a
legislative proposal that would require municipalities to work together
in such situations.

    As it exists now, the initiative would “require
reviewing authorities from each municipality to jointly meet and
discuss a subdivision and/or site plan application for those proposals
that would encompass properties that share a common boundary with an
adjacent municipality.”

    Another proposed law from South Portland would allow
individual municipalities to implement a one percent local “room
occupancy excise tax.”  The money raised from the tax would be
directed to the municipality for general use.

    Gailey said the list of legislative initiatives is
currently undergoing the first of many steps on the path towards
becoming full-fledged bills.