Baldacci budget eyes 95 new jobs

AUGUSTA – Some Maine lawmakers say they want to know why the supplemental budget Gov. John Baldacci submitted to the Legislature would create 95 new state jobs at the same time the state is considering cutting services.

“This isn’t any time to be creating more positions in state government,” said Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis, R-Sangerville. “We’re talking about taking money away from people with brain injuries.”

The Appropriations Committee is reviewing Baldacci’s $160 million supplemental budget for the 2005 fiscal year. The budget would eliminate a $127 million shortfall in the Medicaid program, in part by eliminating or curtailing some Medicaid services.

The budget would both create and eliminate jobs, but would result in a net increase of 94.6 jobs in eight state agencies and the governor’s office.

A handful of the new jobs would start up before June 30. Most of them would not be created until the fiscal year starting July 1. Adding the jobs would cost $6.8 million.

Democrats said the state couldn’t in good conscience hire close to 100 bureaucrats and make deep cuts in social services at the same time.

“Democrats have serious concerns about new projects and new spending when we’re cutting very painful services out of the Medicaid budget,” said Rep. Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, who sits on the Appropriations Committee. “We won’t be adding anything that isn’t absolutely needed right now.”

Some legislators say the state should eliminate one job for each one it creates.

“Our priority is zero net increase of positions,” Rep. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, said of the GOP contingent on the Appropriations Committee.

The state had about 13,658 employees when Baldacci took office in 2003. But Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey said cuts reduced that to about 13,500. The proposed additions would increase the total to about 13,595.

“It’s not as simple as put in 95, take 95 out,” Umphrey said.

The Baldacci administration says the new jobs are needed to tackle problems like overcrowding in state prisons and collecting unpaid taxes.

“There are lots of needs across government and we can’t ignore them simply because we have one big issue that we’re dealing with,” said Rebecca Wyke, Baldacci’s finance commissioner.

Wyke noted that creating 15 jobs at Maine Revenue Services would boost tax collections by $9.2 million. And she said hiring 40 people at the Department of Corrections, most of them guards, will help that agency cope with prison overcrowding and ensure the safety of both inmates and prison workers.

Wyke said the state eliminated more than 300 jobs earlier in the current two-year budget cycle, less than half of which were vacant at the time, so the new jobs included in the pending budget should be viewed against that backdrop.

“We’ve done quite a bit of paring down recently,” Wyke said.