AUGUSTA, Maine — In a final attempt to give his successor a raise, Gov. Paul LePage unveiled a proposal on Wednesday to more than double the next governor’s pay and increase meal and housing allowances for legislators.
LePage is now paid $70,000 per year, which makes him the nation’s lowest-paid governor, though that doesn’t account for the Blaine House — the governor’s mansion — along a $35,000 expense fund that can’t be audited by the Legislature and other benefits of state service.
The new proposal, sponsored for LePage by Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, would raise the governor’s salary to $150,000 starting in January 2019 — when LePage leaves office and the governor to be elected in November moves into the Blaine House.
LePage has long bemoaned his low pay relative to other governors and his salary is less than $3,000 above Maine’s mean household wage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Governors made just over $137,000 on average in 2016, according to the Council of State Governments.
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