SANFORD — House District 18, which includes part of Sanford, will see a rematch on Nov. 8 between incumbent Democrat Anne-Marie Mastraccio, who is seeking her third term, and Republican Gordon Frohloff, who challenged Mastraccio in the 2014 race.

Mastraccio is married with two married children and two grandsons. She is a graduate of Forsyth School for Dental Hygienists and Northeastern University. Retired, she worked as a public health dental hygienist before managing her husband’s optometry practice.

Mastraccio served 12 years on the Sanford School Committee and nine years on Sanford’s Tow n Council. In the Legislature, she serves on the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee, and the Government Oversight Committee.

She’s also a member of the Sanford high school and technical center building committee and the elementary school committee, and serves on the York County Courthouse Site Selection Commission.

Frohloff is married with three daughters. He is a graduate of Franklin Pierce University with a degree in marketing and, with his wife Patricia, operates Frohloff ’s Organic Essential Oils.

In addition to his House District 18 bid in 2014, he was a candidate for state representative and for a local school board in New Hampshire 15 years ago.

Mastraccio said drastic cuts to municipal revenue sharing over the last decade have had a direct, negative effect on the local property tax burden.

“I am proposing to fully fund the homestead exemption, which will go up to $20,000 in the next tax cycle (currently only reimbursed by the state at 62.5 percent), ramp up revenue sharing over the next two to four years and return it to the levels necessary to provide municipal services in a service center community like Sanford,” she said.

She also plans to propose a measure that would increase the homestead exemption to $50,000 for homeowners over the age of 75 who have lived in their homes for at least 10 years.

“Older seniors who have used up their savings are having a difficult time paying their increasing property taxes on fixed or reduced incomes,” she said.

Mastraccio said there needs to be a way to allow municipalities to recover the cost of providing services to multi-family buildings – perhaps through tax reform that would base the tax on the number of units, not just a value figure that she says does not reflect a fair share of tax.

In Sanford, 30 percent of housing is comprised of multi-family dwellings that pay just 9 percent of the total city property tax assessment, she said.

Frohloff said he finds himself in agreement with Gov. Paul LePage on several issues.

“I agree with Gov. LePage on the ‘need to create More Jobs for Maine families,’” Frohloff said. “I would work to get government out of the way and allow Maine’s small businesses to create jobs. Smaller, smarter government is the key to new jobs and financial security for Maine families.”

He also said he agrees with LePage’s pledge to help reduce what he described as Maine’s excessive tax burden so families can keep more of their money.

“Local families know how best to spend or save your hard-earned wages, not government,” said Frohloff. “I would work with Gov. LePage to help control state spending to lower taxes, while ensuring our highest priorities and programs for our most vulnerable neighbors are supported.”

Mastraccio said a vibrant economy is dependent on a trained, educated workforce that’s in sufficient numbers for all employers.

“As our current workforce ages and retires, government must be active and work with the business community to find incentives that will attract younger people and immigrants to our state; ensure that our educational system, pre-K through college, is graduating individuals with the requisite skills necessary to prepare them for those jobs and work closely with the businesses experiencing workforce shortages to find out what their needs are,” she said. “It could be as simple as transportation to a particular business or a more complex solution such as retraining programs through our community college system for unemployed or underemployed workers.”

Frohloff said he believes tax reform is needed to spur the local economy, and quoted former Democratic President John F. Kennedy: “Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort – thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate.”

As to getting work accomplished in the next legislative session, Frohloff said, “I would echo the words of Alan Rosenthal from 1999 when he wrote: What do we want our state legislatures of the 21st century to be? Of course we want them to be effective, to be good. But we also know that state legislatures will be heavily influenced by forces over which they have little control – technology in particular. The challenge is to remain true to the fundamental purposes of representative democracy and the legislative system.”

“I think the next Legislature can be effective, even in the current climate, if we are able to concentrate on the issues that most impact our constituents, pledge to work together and continue to try to engage the executive branch in the legislative process,” said Mastraccio. “We have had to pass most everything over the past four years with a two-third majority, and very little help or input from the governor. Our collective inability to deal with issues important to Maine people has led to government by referendum; not the most effective means of governance.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.