Question 1 – Upgrades for Maine Army National Guard centers: By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
When Maine voters go to the polls Nov. 5, they will be faced with five bond questions seeking to borrow about of $182 million for various projects.
Question 1 asks voters, “Do you favor a $14,000,000 bond issue to provide funds for the state’s share of maintenance, repair, capital improvements, modernization and energy efficiency projects for Maine Army National Guard readiness centers and support facilities and the purchase of land for training and to draw down federal matching funds?”
According to the Secretary of State’s Guide to the Referendum Election, Question 1 would provide maintenance and improvement of the state armories and the purchase of land for Maine ANG training.
If approved the bond would provide funds for the state’s share of maintenance, repair, capital improvement, modernization and energy efficiency projects for Maine Army National Guard readiness centers and support facilities totaling $11 million.
The $11 million would cover the state’s share of costs for maintenance and repair projects, capital improvements, and modernization and energy efficiency improvement projects at readiness centers (armories) and support facilities across the state. These funds are expected to leverage up to $14,000,000 in federal funds in fiscal years 2015-19.
The bond would also provide funds for the purchase of up to 6,000 acres of land to be used by the Maine guard for training purposes and for facilities related to training purposes to allow a transition from a strategic reserve to an operational force. The total amount of money spent for purchasing this land is $3 million.
Federal funds cannot be used to acquire land for training, but federal funds may be used for operation and maintenance costs after acquisition, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
The bond would run for a period not longer than 10 years from the date of issue and would be backed by the full faith and credit of the state.
Naturally, the Maine guard supports Question 1. According to information posted on the Guard’s website (www.me.ngb.army.mil/), dated Oct. 21, the bond would provide $11 million for National Guard Readiness Centers and support facilities for state responsibility of maintenance, repair, capital improvement, and modernization projects leveraging up to $14 million in federal matching funds from FY15 through FY19.
It includes three parts:
• $2 million in state share for National Guard Readiness Center maintenance and repair projects.
• $6 million in state share for National Guard Readiness Center capital repairs.
• $3 million in state share for Air and Army National Guard Readiness Center modernization and energy-savings projects.
No public comments have been filed either in support of or in opposition to Question 1.
Question 2 – University of Maine campuses will benefit from bond: By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
Among the bond issues before voters on Election Day will be Question 2 which reads “Do you favor a $15.5 million bond issue to enhance educational and employment opportunities for Maine citizens and students by updating and improving existing laboratory and classroom facilities of the University of Maine System statewide?”
Supporters of Question 2 on the Nov.5 ballot say that a “Yes” vote will not only bring investments in students’ education throughout the seven campuses of the University of Maine System, but it will also bring about immediate construction jobs to perform the work necessary to upgrade and renovate STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education facilities statewide.
“Question 2 is about jobs,” said UMS Chancellor James Page. “It’s about the jobs that will come from $15.5 million spent on construction and equipment as we rebuild and rehabilitate classrooms and labs on every campus. It’s also about job opportunities for our students as they receive critical, up-to-date training in nursing, marine sciences, engineering, and a host of other professions that Maine needs and Maine students want.”
If passed, money will be allocated locally as follows:
• $5.5 million to the University of Maine to renovate about 10,000 square feet of outdated STEM classrooms and labs;
• $1.2 million to the University of Maine at Presque Isle to upgrade space and equipment for science classrooms and other on-campus STEM facilities; and
UMPI President Linda Schott said the upgrades to her campus will benefit both students and community members.
“If the bond passes, UMPI will use the funds primarily to upgrade equipment and labs in Folsom-Pullen, our major classroom building,” said Schott.
Schott explained how the money will be used, giving the following examples:
• Refinish lab benches and cabinets for biology, chemistry and geology;
• Update and expand storage for geology, plant and vertebrate collections;
• Redesign lab spaces to promote greater collaboration among students;
• Purchase new equipment such as sterile hoods that can be used when working with bacteria and tissue cultures; and
• Expand and update the GIS (geographic information system) lab in order to serve more students and to increase community access to the GIS program.
“These upgrades are needed to ensure that our students are prepared on the types of equipment that they will find in their future workplaces and that are safe. Furthermore, as we promote more hands-on educational experiences, we need the space and equipment that will enable students to collaborate with other students and faculty members on research projects,” said Schott.
She said the upgrades will serve students in the STEM and health-related fields — fields projected to be in high demand in the coming years. For more information, visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/YesonME2.
Question 3 – Transportation bond appears to have widespread support: By Mike Lange
Staff Writer
While bond issues have had mixed results in Maine elections over the years, anything related to transportation usually passes by a wide margin. And political analysts don’t expect much opposition to the $100 million issue on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Question Three reads, “Do you favor a $100,000,000 bond issue for reconstruction and rehabilitation of highways and bridges and for facilities or equipment related to ports, harbors, marine transportation, freight and passenger railroads, aviation and transit, to be used to match an estimated $154,000,000 in federal and other funds?”
In November 2012, a $51.5 million transportation bond that funded a variety of projects — from repairing highways to dredging a channel at Searsport — passed by a 73-27 percent margin.
A $47.8 million transportation bond passed in June 2010 by a smaller, but still comfortable margin of 58-42 percent.
While some Republicans take a dim view of bonding because it increases the state’s debt, that’s not the case with the Piscataquis County Commissioners. All three GOP commissioners said they will vote for this year’s transportation bond.
“We have only two state representatives in the whole county and the city of Portland alone has eight,” said Commissioner Jim Annis, who served in the Maine House from 2000-08. “So it’s tough to get things done up here. We even had to fight for enough money to fix the road between Dover-Foxcroft and Guilford.”
Gov. Paul LePage and Democratic leaders locked horns last summer over the timing of the whole bond package when Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt pushed for an August vote on the transportation bond alone.
The governor and Bernhardt claimed that unless the bond went to the voters before fall, there might be delays in getting road repairs completed that were already on the DOT’s 2014 project schedule.
The total package is also expected to generate an additional $154 million in federal funds, if passed.
Bernhardt said Monday in an e-mail message that passage of the bond is vital toward “the next construction season of 2014. Another way to look at it is: without the bond we would have to defer $100 million in projects within our 3-year work plan.”
Maine’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) for the next three years depends on both federal and state funding for “investments in various modes of transportation infrastructure, including but not limited to pedestrian, bicycles, highways and transit services.”
For all practical purposes, however, counties like Piscataquis, Aroostook and northern Penobscot will see more repairs to existing highways and bridges than construction of bike paths.
These are a few key local projects in the STIP including some that are already underway:
• Resurfacing 19.25 miles of Interstate 95 between Houlton and Dyer Brook — $7.85 million.
• Replacement of the iron bridge over the Mattawamkeag River in Island Falls — $3.64 million.
• Resurfacing 8.79 miles of Route 1 between Monticello and Blaine — $2.32 million.
Question 4 – Funds for Maine Maritime Academy included in bond: By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
Question No. 4 of the referendum questions to be voted on Tuesday, Nov. 5, asks, “Do you favor a $4,500,000 bond issue to provide funds for a public-private partnership for a building project for a new science facility at the Maine Maritime Academy to be matched by other funds?”
This question is asking Maine citizens if they approve of the state borrowing $4.5 million to help the MMA build a new science facility. The state would pay the $4.5 million while $9.6 million would come from private donors.
Maine Maritime Academy, located in Castine, is an accredited college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in marine engineering and transportation, business and science. The campus has been in existence since 1941.
The academy has seen growth in enrollment over the past 15 years from 650 to 950 full-time students, according to Academy president Dr. William J. Brennan. Currently a total of 12 students from Aroostook County are attending MMA.
In September, MMA broke ground for the ABS Center on Engineering, Science and Research. The center is the first new classroom facility to be built on the campus in 30 years.
The new center will be a state building as MMA is part of the state’s university system. It will be a hub for joint student/faculty research projects, including low emissions biofuel development and testing, wind turbine design, tidal and wave hydrokinetic devices, ocean studies research and many other topics. The estimated total cost of the project is about $14 million.
Last fall, Strategic Maintenance Solutions, an engineering firm based out of Gorham, pledged $500,000 in support of the ABS Center. SMS is co-owned by business partners Jason Oney and Daniel Hobart. Oney is a 1996 graduate of MMA and is originally from Limestone. Hobart is a 1994 graduate from MMA and is originally from Bridgewater.
A “Yes” vote on Question No. 4 would approve issuance of the funds as described in general obligation bonds. The League of Women Voters list arguments for approval of the bond to include the creation of several construction jobs for the project; improvement of training in the sciences for MMA students; current low interest rates for the state to borrow the funds; the $4.5 million bond will be matched by $9.6 million in private funds; and money is needed from the state of Maine in order to get the rest of the private funds.
A “No” vote disapproves the bond in its entirety. Arguments against the bond, according to the League of Women Voters, include Maine would add $4.5 million to its debt; it will cost a total of $5.4 million in principal and interest over 10 years to repay the money; and other projects may be more worthy of the state’s money.
Question 5 – Upgrades for Maine Community College System part of package: By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA — Citizens for Higher Education, a bipartisan group of Maine business and community leaders, has launched a statewide campaign to secure passage of Bond Question 5 on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Question 5 will ask voters: “Do you favor a $15,500,000 bond issue to upgrade buildings, classrooms and laboratories on the seven campuses of the Maine Community College System in order to increase capacity to serve more students through expanded programs in health care, precision machining, information technology, criminal justice and other key programs?”
The funds will enable the colleges to expand degree programs that are most requested by both students and employers.
Citizens for Higher Education began airing the first of several TV ads two weeks ago. The ad profiles David Richardson of Ludlow, who lost his job in a local mill when his son was just a few days old. Richardson enrolled in a precision machining program at Northern Maine Community College, earned his degree, and is now employed at Bison Pumps in Houlton.
“Voting ‘Yes’ on 5 will build classrooms and add capacity so that thousands of Mainers will have the same opportunities I had,” said Richardson, noting that community colleges were “a lifeline” for him and his young family.
If approved, Question 5 would enable the state’s community colleges to prepare more students for high wage/high demand jobs.
As the group notes, even though the community colleges have grown 83 percent over the past decade, many students are still waiting to enroll and graduate. This logjam has serious implications for students, their families, and for employers who need more workers with the skills taught at the community colleges.
Should voters OK the bond question, funds will include $900,000 for NMCC. The funds would enable NMCC to convert Aroostook Hall into classrooms, labs and offices that would allow the college to expand its allied health programs including community paramedicine, emergency medical services and health information technology. Funds would also be used for energy efficiencies and the purchase of new classroom equipment.
“NM plays a vital role in the economic development of Aroostook County by training tomorrow’s workforce using the most up-to-date technology, and we consult with industry leaders who recommend program improvements,” said NMCC President Timothy Crowley. “Since health care jobs are projected to grow in this region, it’s vital that we keep up with the demand.
“Some monies from Bond No. 5 will also be set aside for the precision metals manufacturing program — another area for potential job increases,” he said. “We need to grow the workforce in these areas if we are to attract new jobs to the region. This bond is essential to the growth of Aroostook County.”
In addition to television commercials, Citizens for Higher Education has also created a Facebook page (https://www. facebook.com/pages/Help-grow-Maines-economy/3692367 26541578). A list of the projects to be funded at each of Maine’s community colleges is available at www.mccs.me.edu/bond2013 .html.
