GOP wants surplus to reduce borrowing

AUGUSTA – The lead House Republican on the Appropriations Committee suggested Monday that majority Democrats and the Baldacci administration should use newly identified tax revenues to reduce the governor’s proposed $55 million bond package.

“The level of the year-end surplus is almost $20 million more than what experts had recently predicted they would be,” said Rep. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport. “This provides the opportunity to at least ask the question of why we couldn’t deal with some of the bond issues out of the surplus funds.”

Meanwhile, conflicting schedules and the absence of consensus on the size of the borrowing plan are dimming prospects for a July meeting on bonds by the Appropriations Committee. Gov. John Baldacci and Democratic leaders have said they would like to have the panel grant unanimous approval to a bond proposal before calling the Legislature into special session later this summer to act on the plan.

But time is slipping away. Sen. Mary Cathcart, D-Orono and Senate chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, will be out of state later this month and other panelists have made vacation plans.

“It’s getting close to the time that we need to schedule a meeting – if we’re going to have one,” Cathcart said.

House Republican spokesman Jason Fortin said recent polls of GOP lawmakers indicate little enthusiasm for returning to the State House to take up a bond proposal that many claim could wait until January when the new Legislature convenes.

Fortin said those who did express a willingness to attend a special summer session were more supportive of a bond package in the $30 million to $40 million range rather than the governor’s $55 million proposal.

The Baldacci bond offer is nearly half of what was proposed by Senate Democrats and more than what Republicans were willing to approve earlier this year. It would provide $30 million for the Land for Maine’s Future Program; $11.75 million targeted largely for the Waldo-Hancock Bridge, including about $2 million earmarked for port and ferry improvements; and a little more than $13 million for environmental upgrades with an emphasis on water-quality improvements.

“Obviously we would prefer to stay as close to our proposal as possible,” said Lee Umphrey, the governor’s communications director.

Last week, the administration announced tax revenue collections through the June 30 end of fiscal 2004 had produced a state revenue surplus of nearly $61 million. The figure exceeded projections from two weeks earlier when Baldacci had predicted a surplus of about $45 million. The new $61 million figure was driven by better-than-expected collections in sales taxes, individual income taxes and corporate income taxes.

“And that doesn’t include about another $10 million that could be swept from lapsed balances at state agencies,” said Rosen.

Rather than allow percentages of the entire estimated $70 million in surplus revenue to trickle into budget stabilization accounts and other budget-dedicated reserves, Rosen said, the Legislature could divert some of the additional money to reduce the need for borrowing money.

“It would take legislative action to come in and do that,” Rosen said. “But why borrow when arguments are being made that funds needed for the transportation and environmental [bonds] are being diverted to deal with an emergency like the Waldo-Hancock Bridge. I think it’s a reasonable argument to use surplus money for that.”

Cathcart said she wasn’t sure using the surplus to pay for a bond initiative was “such a good idea,” particularly when bond agencies are citing the state’s comparatively low cash reserves as a basis for setting Maine’s bond rating.

“We’re just starting to rebuild our reserves, so I think that’s a real plus,” she said. “That way we will have it when we encounter the next economic downturn. To me, that’s more prudent than spending it.”