Gov. Paul LePage speaks in Gorham Wednesday.

A portion of a crowd is pictured that packed Spire 29 in Gorham Wednesday to hear Gov. Paul LePage.

Gov. Paul LePage visits Gorham.

GORHAM — Gov. Paul LePage, speaking in a town meeting format here Wednesday, backed a proposed spur to link the town with the interstate system advocated for regionalizing school superintendents and abolishing state income taxes.

As this year’s deadline for filing income tax returns draws near, he reiterated his ideas for reforming taxes. LePage said the elderly are paying too much income taxes and Maine is the oldest and one of the poorest states in America.

“I think Maine could do without an income tax,” the governor said.

LePage spoke to a packed house at Spire 29, a former church. His 60-minute presentation repeatedly drew applause.

During the question-and-answer period, Gorham developer Hans Hansen spoke about the proposal for a turnpike spur to Gorham. “It’s really needed,” Hansen said.

LePage responded, “I support it.”

But he suggested that the Maine Department of Transportation take it over, rather than the Maine Turnpike Authority. He said he wanted only one turnpike toll – in Kittery.

As for school funding, he advocated consolidating for more efficiency in administrative spending. “The issue is how much money makes it into the classroom,” he said.

LePage said Maine has 177,000 students and 147 superintendents compared to 3 million students in Florida with 64 superintendents.

“There’s a number of ways we can regionalize our schools,” he said, and added it could be done without doing away with local school boards.

Jim Means,  a Gorham resident, asked a question about the number of citizens initiatives, pointing to the five on the ballot last November.

LePage suggested changes that would make it more difficult to meet the number of required signatures on petitions and would discourage big out-of-state money from participating in Maine referendums.

He also spoke about the need to reduce energy costs and to attract more industry to Maine. “We have to become more business friendly,” he said.

Asked whether he would run to unseat U.S. Sen. Angus King, LePage replied, “I have no answer.”

Two uniformed Gorham police officers, Sgt. Sears Edwards and Patrol Officer Dean Hannon, were on duty but no disturbances interrupted LePage.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 854-2577 or [email protected].