Yes on Question 1

Do you favor a $60,000,000 bond issue to stimulate economic growth and job creation through investments in research and development, municipal infrastructure and facilities, the Maine Farms for the Future Program and affordable housing, in anticipation of approximately $134,150,000 in federal and private funds?

This is a daunting bond question, a long and complicated question, the beginning of which is printed above. But it nevertheless accurately accounts for many parts of the economy Maine should be building. Voters with the patience to review each part of it will find critical components of the economy – education, tax relief, housing, research and development, traditional industries – supported with money that in most cases will be matched to provide Maine with a substantial long-term boost to its economy. Voters should approve this proposal.

The $60 million jobs question contains 12 parts, five of them, worth $18 million, directly benefit the state’s university system, primarily to expand research and development, which leverage many times the state’s investment in federal or private funding. The money deepens the state’s commitment to R&D while pushing it to help market specific products, such as wood composites. The short, encouraging history of serious state funding for these programs has demonstrated that they are terrific investments. Maine has spent $35 million on university R&D in recent years, with the university leveraging $140 million in matching funds. That money goes to local jobs, construction and locally purchased goods and services in addition to providing valuable research and, perhaps, new industries for Maine. University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal said passing the bond was important to prevent the state from becoming “only the playground of the rich [and] the nursing home of the elderly.”

In much the same spirit, support is equally warranted for the largest single portion of the bond, $20 million for medical R&D by Maine-based biomedical research institutions that would attract an additional $100 million in federal and private funds. Like the university system, it too raises large amounts of money for a small state investment: $24.5 million from the state has raised $168 million in outside funding, 84 percent of which was then spent in Maine.

The money from this bond would be used most importantly for health research to cure diseases such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, cancer and cystic fibrosis, but its supporters properly point out that it helps cure another sort of problem, the departure of Maine’s graduates for better careers elsewhere. The jobs in these fields pay far more than a livable wage – something one-third of Maine jobs do not do – and allow ambitious Mainers to stay here while attracting those from out of state to have challenging careers in a beautiful place.

Some of the other portions of the bond have less lofty applications but are vital to Maine communities. A yes vote favors providing municipalities with $6 million in grants and loans to build public facilities – infrastructure that can attract new businesses. The bond provides $8 million, which would leverage another $21 million, to create more affordable housing, an acute problem in southern Maine but a quiet problem statewide. Since the early 1990s, the level of homelessness in Maine has doubled, with shelters housing working people who cannot afford the rents in several areas. The bond money would create more affordable housing, preserve the current stock of housing, which is disappearing as Section 8 agreements expire, and establish more housing for the frail elderly.

This portion of the bond clearly contributes to the state economy by allowing workers to move to where jobs are prevalent, but it is also a community-development tool because it supports placing more people in the downtowns of service centers either through rental housing or affordable condominiums. It is easy to see the demand for these units in Portland; they are equally important in Bangor and Machias, Presque Isle and Lewiston, where bringing more people into town enhances its ability to afford essential services.

This jobs bond reaches into the Atlantic with $4 million for the Gulf of Maine Research Laboratory and for nonprofit marine facilities, to Maine’s farms with $3 million for research and support and to its burgeoning small technology businesses, with $2 million to provide start-up and continuing grants to bring good ideas to market. Though the 12 parts of the bond are diverse, they all push Maine in the same direction – toward a stronger, sustainable economy that will serve it well long after the bond money has been repaid.

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Mainers have been told often that this is an excellent time to borrow money because interest rates are so low and Maine has the capacity, especially compared with other states, to carry the debt. Both are true, but there is a further reason that makes this a particularly good time to invest in Maine jobs. State lawmakers just completed a massive budget cut – $1.2 billion over two years that, certainly, hurt some good programs but also was necessary to begin to lower Maine’s tax burden, which is a combination of a high tax rate and low salaries. The jobs bond, as a targeted investment, is a complement to holding the line on taxes. It builds higher-paying jobs that can contribute to lowering taxes for everyone. Certainly, this is a long-term investment, and $60 million is a small portion of what eventually will be needed. But, like the work on balancing the budget, it moves Maine in the right direction instead of the status quo of allowing it to fall farther behind the nation.

A yes vote on Question 1 is a sound investment and an expression of confidence that Maine can grow out of its current economic problems. It is a vote for the belief that Maine can do better than the slow decay that has enveloped it for too long.