Although we are not yet commenting on the merits of individual referendum proposals coming up for a vote in November, it’s worth noting that this year five of the seven questions are citizen initiatives.

These five are proposals which have not passed muster during legislative review. Three of them, dealing with taxes and school district consolidation, propose fundamental changes in the way cities and towns do business.

If enacted, these changes will hit close to home.

Organizers clearly have persuasive arguments for change, because they were able to gather enough signatures to get the questions on the ballot. But one weakness of citizen-sponsored referendums is that organizers are so devoted to their own cause, that larger consequences sometimes escape them.

Legislation enacted in Augusta gets a thorough review during work sessions and public hearings. On a citizen-initiated referendum question, this responsibility belongs to the voters. We encourage them to consider the impact of three in particular.

”“ A proposal to cut the excise tax by an average of 55 percent on cars less than six years old will substantially reduce municipal revenue.

”“ An initiative to limit state and local spending will curtail government’s ability to maintain current services.

”“ And repealing school consolidation laws could put districts that are in compliance, like RSU 23 and RSU 21, into legal and financial limbo.

We aren’t arguing against these proposals today, but even if all three ideas were good ones, they might together create more difficulties than many communities could responsibly handle.

Voters considering a “Yes” vote on any of them should set a high threshold for that decision since they steer us toward an uncharted shore.