AUGUSTA – Setting the stage for next month’s special session, leaders picked a date Wednesday for the Legislature’s top money committee to take up bond issues and met in hopes of finding a compromise on the borrowing proposals.

House Speaker Patrick Colwell said the Appropriations Committee will meet during the week of Aug. 11 to prepare for the Aug. 21 session called by Gov. John Baldacci.

“I’m confident that the committee will be able to reach an agreement that meets the state’s needs, and can gain strong support from the voters in November,” said the Gardiner Democrat.

Meanwhile, both parties’ leaders from the House and Senate met Wednesday to break a deadlock over how much money should be included in the bond package.

Democrats propose a three-part package totaling $93.8 million that includes funding for transportation, education and environmental programs.

Colwell says that’s far less than the $105 million initially proposed by Baldacci. Republicans were drawing the line at $83 million and Baldacci had revised his figure to about $90 million.

Whatever the final figure, passage of a bond package is critical, according to the House chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Rep. Joseph Brannigan, D-Portland, said the deteriorating condition of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge on U.S. Route 1 dramatized the need for transportation investments through bonds.

On July 11, the state banned vehicles weighing more than 12 tons from the 72-year-old bridge, which spans the Penobscot River between Prospect and Verona, because of concerns about the safety of suspension cables.

Prohibited trucks now must cross the river between Bangor and Brewer.

Democrats also sought to allay concerns that the state would be issuing new bonds while millions of dollars in additional bonds remain authorized by voters but unissued.

Ninety percent of the unissued environmental bonds, for example, have been earmarked for specific projects and are expected to be spent this year and next, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Democrats propose earmarking $7.5 million in new bonds for environmental projects in the new package. Their transportation total is $58.3 million; educational bonds would total $23 million and $5 million would be set aside for parks, under the majority party’s package.

The Aug. 21 special session also will consider a referendum proposal to compete with a question on the Nov. 4 ballot calling for the state to pay 55 percent of funding for public education from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Baldacci has proposed a phased-in approach toward higher school funding. A bill was being prepared for consideration at the special session.

In another development relating to state finances, Baldacci plans on Friday to release details of a study into internal controls in the Human Services Department following questions this spring about the use of $18.9 million.

The accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers was asked to identify an audit trail for the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program funds in question and to recommend appropriate internal controls.