Eager to haul in more cash to pay for ever-rising budgets, Maine’s cities are appealing to state lawmakers to fork over a greater share of its tax revenue.

The Maine Municipal Association told legislators last week that local costs “are all increasing” and that without more aid property taxpayers will feel the brunt of rising expenses.

But some argue it would simply reward what they see as poor fiscal management by cities and shift the overall tax burden.

Sen. Joe Baldacci, a Bangor Democrat, is pushing a bill that would hike the percentage of tax revenue shared with municipalities beginning next year.

“Revenue-sharing is a critically important tool for our cities and towns to fund local services — police, fire, schools, roads,” Baldacci said.

The state hands over 5% of the money raised from sales, corporate and personal income tax revenue each month into a municipal revenue-sharing pool, according to the treasurer’s office.

Baldacci’s measure calls for increasing the share provided to municipalities to 5.5% beginning in 2026 and to 6% in 2027.

It amounts to big money.

Michael Allen, associate commissioner for tax policy in the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, told a legislative panel last week that it would cost the state $170 million through the 2029 fiscal year.

The mayor of Biddeford, former state Rep. Martin Grohman, told lawmakers that “I’m sure it feels like all we do is ask for money, but we do need to reform the way it works.”

Debbie Laurie, Bangor’s city manager, said her city’s residents are “assuming more than their fair share” of the financial burden imposed by government.

She said the state’s municipal revenue-sharing program is a partnership that benefits both the state and cities that use the money in part “to support development and job creation” that bring in more revenue overall.

The state’s revenue-sharing allows “a small percentage of those tax revenues” to come back to municipalities to help fund the services they provide, Laurie said.

The Maine Mayors Coalition, which represents 11 communities, said revenue-sharing “is critical to cities and towns across the state.”

“It helps alleviate the ever-growing tax burdens placed on our property owners while allowing us to continue to provide the municipal services our citizens need,” the coalition said in a statement to the Legislature’s tax committee.

The mayors, including Carl Sheline of Lewiston and Jeff Harmon of Auburn, said they appreciate the existing revenue-sharing arrangement but need more.

Hiking the percentage provided by the state, they said, “would further reduce property taxes for Maine’s home and business owners.”

Harris Van Pate, policy analyst for the Maine Policy Institute, offered a different take.

Van Pate told legislators that hiking revenue-sharing numbers would perpetuate and encourage “inefficient spending” while expanding the dependency of localities on state aid.

It would also exacerbate “Maine’s unsustainable tax burden,” he said.

Van Pate told the tax panel the revenue-sharing program “incentivizes fiscal irresponsibility and shields municipal officials from accountability to local taxpayers.”

He said that instead of shifting the tax burden, municipal leaders should focus on “sound budget management and structural reforms” along with greater cost-cutting and innovation.

Baldacci’s bill is not the only one that eyes more revenue-sharing by the state.

Another proposal sponsored by Sen. Denise Tepler, D-Topsham, and Democratic Reps. Allison Helper of Woolwich and Stephan Bunker of Farmington would create a new Local Government Hospitality Fund that would distribute 1% of meals and lodging sales tax revenue in proportion to the amount collected from within each municipality.

It is slated for a hearing Tuesday before the tax committee.

Another bill, whose details are still being worked out, would establish a system of revenue-sharing related to the use and management of coastal resources.

Its sponsors include Sen. Joe Martin, R-Rumford, and GOP Reps. Mike Soboleski of Phillips and Peter Wood of Norway.

The state has had a revenue-sharing program since 1972. It initially gave 4% of revenues to cities and towns, but the rate has been 5% since 2009.

But, as Gov. Janet Mills mentioned in her annual address recently, the state had fallen short of the promised 5% for 13 straight years until 2022. That has sent millions of extra dollars to municipal coffers.

Her proposed two-year budget includes $561 million “to maintain the required level of municipal revenue-sharing.”

Allen said the state has already significantly increased its commitment to property tax relief and municipal support by reaching 5% revenue-sharing and 55% education funding, increasing the reimbursement for the homestead exemption, and increasing the property tax fairness credit.”

He said adding more money to the revenue-sharing pool “would strain the state’s ability to sustain these existing commitments.”

Mills said that with “large increases in funds coming from state government,” including education aid, “I fervently hope that the towns, cities and schools find ways to better share and coordinate services and personnel, regionalize programs, save money, and reduce the burden on our property taxpayers.”

Allen said the administration is looking forward to working with legislators on the issue.