The legislative session here in Augusta is winding down and we find ourselves in the unfamiliar position of actually having a forecasted surplus of state revenue. Now the question around the Maine State House is what do we do with these unexpected funds?
I believe we should put as much as possible into the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund also known as the “rainy day fund.” With that being said, there are always seems to be more requests for funds then we can fill. This puts us in the difficult position of trying to prioritize these issues as we only have finite resources.
There are some issues that we as legislators need to take a serious look at and address before we adjourn for the summer.
For example, our county jails are in need of some additional funding which is a piece of a larger problem the Legislature has been working to solve. We also have a proposal before us to provide pay increases for Maine state troopers, game wardens and other positions within public safety who are struggling to recruit and retain quality people.
Some members of the Legislature attempted to resolve these issues by presenting a supplemental budget to the House and Senate. I thought long and hard about their proposal, but in the end I could not in good conscious support it.
My decision not to support the supplemental budget certainly does not mean I don’t support the policy initiatives, my decision was based solely on the funding source being used to pay for them. The proposal used money from the aforementioned surplus that I believe need to go into our state’s rainy day fund. Taking money from the rainy day fund makes me very uncomfortable.
We are a little more than eight months in to a 2-year budget where we raised state spending by $315 million. That includes an additional $15 million in funding for our local schools we recently approved.
I believe we needed to take the time to find these funds within existing resources and not increase state spending or draw from the state’s rainy day fund. I believe it is our job as legislators is to do everything we can to ease the burden on you, the Maine taxpayer.
House Republicans put forward a plan of our own that included these same initiatives but we chose to work with Governor LePage and find the funding within existing state resources. We accomplish essentially the exact same goals but we don’t increase state spending by one nickel and we deposit every bit of the $55.5 million of state surplus money into the rainy day fund.
Maine voters will be asked to consider two referendum questions this November that could have a serious impact on the Maine economy. I am of course referring to the proposed $12/hour minimum wage hike as well as the 3 percent tax increase on Maine people. Now is the time we should be putting as much money as we can into our rainy day fund in case of an economic downturn.
It is recommended that a state have enough money in reserve to run state government for 30 days. Currently we have enough in our rainy day fund to run our government for eight days. I believe we as a Legislature need to find the money to fund these important initiatives within existing resources rather than by increasing state spending even more. That way we can put more of this projected surplus into our rainy day fund.
I fully support our county jails and making sure they have the resources they need to do the job. I also support pay raises for our hard working law enforcement personnel. But I believe in fiscal responsibility. I believe that we in the Maine Legislature must be fiscally responsible when it comes to the use of Maine’s tax dollars.
Rep. Carol McElwee (R-Caribou) represents District 149 – Caribou, New Sweden and Westmanland.
