Budget package approved King inks $160 million bill on live television program

AUGUSTA – Following a little more than an hour of debate Monday night, the Maine Legislature enacted a $160 million supplemental budget bill that was signed live on television by Gov. Angus S. King.

The Senate’s final vote on the bill, preceded by a pep talk by Senate President Rick Bennett, R-Norway, took place shortly after 8 p.m. and happened to coincide with the governor’s appearance on the Maine Public Broadcasting Corp.’s “Capitol Connection” television show. Forty minutes later, the budget was presented to King for his signature, which he quickly affixed.

“This really represents a remarkable achievement to achieve two-thirds in both bodies in a time of cuts,” he said. “To be able to increase aid to education and cut taxes is a pretty remarkable achievement. It reflects well on both parties and both houses.”

The week of wrangling over the tax-and-spending package was triggered by some legislators in communities where student populations declined while property taxes increased, resulting in decreased state aid to local education.

An effort led by Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-Lewiston, to take a $2.5 million bite out of King’s $25 million laptop computer fund failed Monday evening after the Senate rejected the proposal 19-16. Bromley’s amendment mirrored a similar effort in the House that failed Friday in a 71-69 vote.

Bromley argued that her plan would place $500,000 into so-called “cushions” of state assistance to communities receiving disproportionate shares of local education aid. The remaining $2 million in Bromley’s amendment would have increased local educational funding for all Maine communities.

“This amendment would get relief to some of our urban schools and to acknowledge that we still need more in some rural districts,” she said.

Bromley’s amendment was opposed by Sen. Jill Goldthwait, a Bar Harbor independent who also serves as the Senate chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. Goldthwait said Bromley’s concerns were recognized by many legislators, but warned that her amendment could cause the delicate set of compromise agreements in the budget to unravel.

“It is a compromise of partisan ideologies, a compromise between regional interests, between individual priorities and most of all, a compromise with the reality of a diminished economy,” she said. “The strength of this budget is that representatives from all quarters were at the table and there was an agreement that this was a compromise that warranted general support.”

The budget, advanced largely because of a decline in revenues to fund the two-year budget approved last year by the Legislature, already provides a $4 million cushion for school districts and a little more than $730 million in local education aid. It also includes about $37 million to allow state taxes to conform to federal tax laws.

Most of the money needed to balance the budget was taken out of the Rainy Day Fund, which has now been reduced from $100 million to $15 million. Even those few millions remaining won’t be entirely available because the Appropriations Committee included language in the budget that uses the Rainy Day Fund as a backstop to cover unanticipated costs associated with the tax conformity package.

Surviving the first Senate vote, the budget moved on to the House for a final vote, but not before another half hour of debate launched by Republicans who simply were not happy with the current level of state spending. One of the more memorable analogies of evening was offered by Rep. Stavros Mendros, R-Lewiston, who compared state government’s hunger for tax dollars to his own fluctuating physical girth.

“Take a look at me – I’m overweight,” he said. “I get to the point where I get so overweight that I have to go on a diet or start exercising. Well that’s our state budget; it’s beyond overweight, it’s bloated. We’ve got to get it on the treadmill, take it to the gym. It probably needs lyposuction. The problem with being that overweight, whether you’re a person or a budget, is that you collapse. And that’s where we’re heading.”

Although Mendros’ point was enjoyed by his seatmates, the House ignored his advice and went on to finally approve the bill in a 109-29 vote. The tally represented eight more votes than the number necessary for the required two-thirds majority needed to enact the budget immediately. The measure then returned to the Senate, where at least 24 affirmative votes were needed to provide the two-thirds supermajority. The Senate approved, 29-5.

“The work of the Appropriations Committee continues past this budget,” Bennett said. “There’s a number of matters that continue beyond this that need attention: the special appropriations table, the bond issues, other matters. But I think it’s appropriate to recognize their role, led by Sen. Goldthwait, who brought a lot of disparate groups and interests together. While it is not perfect, this is a budget and a compromise.”