Budget deficits on the state and federal levels are threatening to limit access to services for many of Maine’s 154,000 veterans, according to local advocates.

A proposal submitted to Gov. John Baldacci calls for closing the state’s Veterans Services offices in Bangor, Machias, Waterville, Lewiston and Portland. Offices in Springvale, Caribou and the Bureau of Veterans Services headquarters in Augusta would remain open.

The move is projected to save $1 million in the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management over the next two years, beginning July 1. The plan would have to be included in the governor’s budget next month and approved by the Legislature before it would be implemented.

The Veterans Affairs Department, a federal agency, announced this week that beginning Friday it was suspending enrollment for higher-income veterans seeking health care for nonmilitary-related ailments such as heart disease and diabetes. Such individuals are called Category 8 veterans. The suspension is to remain in effect through Sept. 30.

While the plan to close state offices that serve veterans might reduce the projected $1 billion budget deficit, it would cost the state an estimated $24 million in federal benefits, according to budget office estimates.

The 2,078 claims filed on behalf of veterans from the eight offices brought $40 million in benefits into Maine last year, according to Gloria Nadeau, a veterans advocate who works out of the Bangor office located in the Maine Veterans Home. She is one of about 10 people who would lose their jobs if the proposal goes through.

“The Bangor office is the busiest in the state,” she said Friday. “In 2002, we processed almost 500 claims out of this office. We help veterans and many widows fill out applications for benefits. If we close, people would have to go to Caribou or Augusta. We go out every month to itinerant offices in outlying areas to assist people in filling out applications, which are very complicated. Housebound veterans accustomed to home visits would have to arrange for benefits over the telephone and through the mail.”

Veterans advocate Ron Warner, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Bangor, is circulating a petition opposing the proposal and urging veterans to contact their legislators to oppose the cut if it is proposed by Baldacci. The governor is expected to present his budget to the Legislature early next month.

The effect the suspension of health care benefits would have on Maine’s veterans is still unclear, Jim Simpson, public affairs officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Maine, said Friday.

Category 8 income levels vary, depending on residence and marital status. For instance, a single veteran making more than $22,700 annually in northern Maine would qualify for Category 8 status. The income cutoff in York and Cumberland counties, however, is a little over $30,000, according to Simpson.

“The suspension is aimed at protecting the quality of care for veterans,” he said. “Service centers out there have been so overwhelmed with new enrollments that we have to find ways to cut back before the quality of care is adversely affected.”

He added that there is no talk of closing the health care clinics that serve veterans in Maine.