The candidates vying to represent Danvers, Topsfield and Ward 3 in Peabody on Beacon Hill both said a ballot move to trim the state sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent goes way too far.
"I'm all for going right to 5 percent immediately, in the next couple of years ... as the economy gets better," said Republican challenger and Danvers Selectman Dan Bennett, 61. Trimming the sales tax to 5 percent would be a more realistic approach, he said. A cut to 3 percent may provoke the Legislature to hike taxes in other areas.
"I think it's excessive," said incumbent Democratic state Rep. Ted Speliotis, 57, of Danvers. He believes the ballot initiative has a good chance of being rejected by voters.
If it passes, the state would start to resemble New Hampshire, which relies heavily on local property taxes to make ends meet, Speliotis said.
While the candidates agree on the sales tax, Speliotis and Bennett have varying opinions on casino gambling, plan design — which would give cities and towns more control over health plans for municipal employees — the proper retirement age for state workers, and the legalization and taxation of marijuana. The latter is a nonbinding ballot question for residents in Salem, Marblehead and Swampscott, but not in the 13th Essex District.
On casino gambling, Speliotis said he supports it, with some personal reservations.
"Walk into any senior center, and the debate is over," Speliotis said. "The public wants it. Do I think it's the right thing? Not really. Gambling has a lot of problems, but you would be hypocritical to oppose it."
"I'm not against it," Bennett said. He is against letting the tax money from casinos simply go straight into the state's coffers.
"What I'm against is building a state budget on the whims of gamblers," Bennett said.
He said he would vote against a gaming bill unless casino revenues go into stabilization or rainy day funds.
Bennett does favor legislation calling for plan design, which, among other things, would allow cities and towns to join the state health plan, the Group Insurance Commission. It would also give municipal employees benefits equal to what state employees have.
This move could save cities and towns $100 million and "bring about meaningful reform that we need," Bennett said.
The move would also allow cities and towns to raise deductibles and copays without going to the bargaining table.
"We are not taking away the rights of employees to negotiate other benefits," Bennett said.
Speliotis said plan design is a thorny issue for him.
"Plan design becomes a very attractive option because we have not, in this country and this state, aggressively attacked the health care industry to reduce cost."
While plan design might control drug costs, Speliotis worries that it might drive up costs for municipal workers.
"Plan design is something I worry about because it attacks my constituents," Speliotis said. "It further attacks the recipient and lets the provider off the hook."
Speliotis said plan design may be "a necessary evil" if local aid revenues continue to drop.
On raising the retirement age for state employees (the minimum is 55 for certain groups), Speliotis said the vast majority of state workers must work 32 years and retire at age 65 to receive 80 percent of their salary in pensions, something that seems reasonable to him. Those who retire after 32 years on the job at age 55 are eligible for less than half their salary, Speliotis said.
"I'm 61 years old, and I'm interviewing for a new job (as a state rep)," Bennett said. "Why should somebody retire at 55? I don't understand." Bennett favored raising the retirement age, but both men made exceptions for public safety officials who may not be able to do a physically demanding job after age 55.
Finally, Speliotis said he would support initiatives to legalize and tax marijuana.
"I tend to support it," Speliotis said. "Small usage of marijuana is something the public, again, has begun to accept. ... I don't buy into, 'It's an entry-level drug.'"
The bigger drug issue comes from those who are battling cocaine and OxyContin addiction, Speliotis said, a problem that has led to an epidemic of house breaks across the North Shore.
Bennett views legalizing marijuana from a public safety perspective.
"If you are smoking marijuana and you are driving, you are putting people at risk," said Bennett, who does not favor further legalization.
"If you legalize it, you put the public safety at risk," Bennett said. However, "what someone does in their home is their business, not Dan Bennett's business."
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or eforman@salemnews.com.
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