Taxing our patience Property tax issues on Peaks Island highlight class divisions BY SHAY STEWART-BOULEY

The surest way to guarantee no diversity in your community is to price out everyone who’s not wealthy. It works no matter where you are and, when successful, means that all that you’re left with are a bunch of rich white folks and maybe the token minority or two who are moneyed enough to have given up their race cards.

I have seen it time and again. My old neighborhood back in Chicago used to be a cozy enclave for Hispanics and Eastern Europeans, and now it’s a haven for the new millennium version of yuppies. Goodbye, supermercado; hello, Starbucks and other corporate symbols of supposedly higher life forms.

And now I see that it’s happening here in Maine, too.

What Maine lacks in racial and ethnic diversity is more or less made up for by a diversity of income and socioeconomic levels. I cannot speak for the entire state, but in the southern portion where I live you can often wander into local establishments and find attorneys eating at the same counter as fishermen. Granted, the two may not know each other, but they do briefly inhabit the same sphere.

There are also places where those same two might actually know each other and even get together to share a cold one on a hot day. One of those places is Peaks Island, but I wonder how long that situation will last.

When I first heard of Peaks, I figured it had to be a place for the wealthy. The idea of island living struck me as something that only those with money got to do. Turns out I was wrong. Peaks is an intriguing mix of the well-heeled, artists, and just regular folks trying to get by — just like the rest of us.

I read a few months ago that once upon a time, Peaks wasn’t even a "desirable" place to live. Back in the 1950s, it was a source of cheap housing for those willing to live with things like spotty ferry service. Peaks was an outpost for working-class families in need of affordable housing.

Clearly, though, all that has changed. Peaks has blossomed and become a destination spot, and more folks with means have moved onto the island. That has brought a problem, though, as evidenced in the local television and print news when Peaks Islanders made their way to the mainland to protest the upcoming rise in their property taxes.

It appears that Portland’s plan to revalue their homes will leave many folks with tax bills they cannot afford to pay. Various media outlets have reported folks saying their tax bills will double, triple, and in some cases quadruple.

It’s nice, of course, that their houses are worth quite a bit of dough, if in fact a homeowner was planning on selling his or her home. That would be a nice jackpot, particularly if the sellers move to nice, cheap states. However, being that many of these folks like their homes, being told their taxes could go from $3400 to $6800 is the kind of jolt no one likes. Kinda like the jolt you get when you order a cup of joe at the diner and end up getting the pot sludge that’s been on the burner for hours.

For the well-heeled residents, paying the additional money may be an irritant but nothing more. But for those on limited funds like many of us in Maine, coming up with that additional money is going to be a challenge.

Clearly, this situation is not unique to Peaks. Hell, it’s a situation many of us face if our town attracts moneyed out-of-staters. It’s just that living in a coastal area or island makes the problem worse.

Am I saying that the "haves" can’t come here? No, but when "have-nots" compete on the open market for the same services (homes for starters), those born without silver spoons often get the short end of the stick in their mouths instead.

I’m not out to make some grand point on behalf of the islanders. The city and state have the right (or at least the power) to tax us. But the flip side is that those getting taxed have a right to flee this fair state. Increasing taxes may not help with that brain drain that ole Governor Baldie wants to stop.

If we truly wish to embrace the diversity of occupations and income levels, the city and state have to look at these policies. My guess is that for the folks on Peaks, some may choose to sell rather than pay the higher rates. Hopefully, they’ll stay in Maine. Others will choose to fork over the additional dollars and suffer a few less meals outside or cut other expenses to find that additional money.

But if property continues to be revalued at rates that make no sense to the owners and don’t take into account their real incomes and socioeconomic levels, people will eventually reach the point where they have no more fat to cut out. Then, those folks will leave — maybe just the island or coastal town, or maybe the state itself.

I suppose that for those of us left here who aren’t rich, that will create more low-paying service jobs for the have-nots (or have-less) to serve the haves. Yippee.

I hope there will still be someplace for us to live if that happens.

Shay Stewart-Bouley can be reached at shaybouley@msn.com.