Bonds ride toward victory Casino controversy overshadows $89.4 million in proposals

Hundreds of thousands of voters turned out at the polls Tuesday, but most weren’t there for the $89.4 million in state bond issues.

Though all three bonds appeared to have easy victories with 88 percent of precincts reporting, they weren’t what drew voters to the polls. The debates raging over gambling and school funding pushed the trio of bonds for environmental, education and transportation construction projects down on their priority lists, Bangor voters said.

“I don’t even know what I did [on the bonds],” one man said apologetically after leaving a Bangor polling place. “The two big gambling issues, that’s about it.”

The water bond, Question 4, provides a total of $6.9 million to water projects, ranging from grants to help farmers create irrigation wells to funding for cities to upgrade their municipal sewer treatment plants. One of the smallest environment bonds in recent memory, Question 4 makes Maine eligible for more than $14 million in federal matching funds.

Though not as much as the Department of Environmental Protection had requested, the bond will help the state address an estimated $250 million in water treatment infrastructure needs over the next few years, Andy Fisk, director of the DEP’s Bureau of Land and Water Quality said Tuesday night.

“People recognize the benefit of investing in physical [infrastructure],” he said. “They benefit at the end of the pipe, so to speak.”

Question 4 was winning 59.3 percent to 40.7percent at press time.

With Question 5, voters approved $19 million for state colleges and universities. More than half of the funds will go to the Maine Community College System to make its facilities more handicapped-accessible, build new parking lots and repair buildings.

The system needs to prepare for a wave of new students who have flocked to the system’s seven campuses since its recent transformation from technical school to community college, said system President John Fitzsimmons.

Other funds will support renovations at the University of Southern Maine in Portland and Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, as well as grants for community public libraries.

“This was one of the crucial votes for us,” Fitzsimmons said Tuesday night, citing the 18 percent “surge” in enrollment his system has experienced. “When you reach peak enrollment, you tax your infrastructure even more.”

Like other bond beneficiaries, the system will be forced to leave some projects unfunded, but that’s a concern for another day, Fitzsimmons said.

Question 5 was winning 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent at press time.

Approval of the transportation bond, Question 6, means at least $63.45 million will go toward the state’s roads and bridges, according to Greg Nadeau of the state Department of Transportation. The projects are too numerous to list, but they include the dilapidated Waldo-Hancock Bridge in Bucksport, improvements to Route 1A in Ellsworth, $1.1 million for Mount Desert Island’s propane-powered Island Explorer bus system and the state’s LifeFlight emergency medical helicopter fleet. More than 2,000 miles of highways and 80 bridges should benefit, and thousands of construction jobs could be created, Nadeau said.

The DOT also expects to see as much as $200 million in federal funds this winter, but even with the additional bond approval there’s no guarantee that all the projects on the department’s list for the next two years will be funded.

“We’re shy about $15 million … so there’s going to be some unmet needs,” Nadeau said Tuesday night. “[But] obviously, we’re grateful. This will be a big boost to the economy.”

Question 6 was winning 65.6 percent to 34.4 percent at press time.

Despite their apparent victories, this year’s bonds were closer to defeat than in some past years. In fact, both the environment bond and the education bond were losing by a slight margin in Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington counties at press time.

And legislators had reduced all three bonds from their original requests – some by as much as half – for fear that voters would reject big bonds given the state’s economic situation.

Maine cannot afford more debt, said the frustrated minority of voters who opposed this year’s bonds.

“We pass everything through and we have no money to pay for it,” said Courtney Harvey of Bangor, who voted against all three bonds.

Many voters split on the bonds, holding each financial request to higher standards than they might have in the past.

“Every time we vote, we vote for more money, and I’m sick of it,” said Dolores Bickford of Bangor, who supported only the education bond. “I’ve always tried to vote for bonds, but enough is enough,” she said.

Many of the majority who did support all three bonds said that they typically do so. History shows that bond issues – particularly those providing funds to environmental and transportation projects – rarely fail.

These projects need to be done, and if bonds are the only way to fund them, so be it, voters said.

“It’s a lot of money, but we can’t do it without the money,” said Fred Lewis of Bangor.