AUGUSTA – The merits of borrowing money to make money were put to an $83 million test Tuesday as Maine voters went to the polls to determine the fate of five bond issues crafted to attract an additional $240 million of investment from federal and private matching funds.

With 86 percent of precincts statewide reporting by 1 a.m. Wednesday in results gathered by the Bangor Daily News, all of the bond questions except Question 6 were passing. The outcome for the education bond remained too close to call with voters almost evenly divided over the issue.

Gov. John E. Baldacci said Tuesday night he was encouraged by the voters’ support of most of the bond initiatives, adding internal polling had predicted Question 6 would not be readily accepted by a clear majority of voters. John Diamond, spokesman for the University of Maine System, said the education bond’s placement on the ballot was never a cause for optimism among supporters. In the past, he said, questions at the bottom of the ballot have been rejected by voters who simply were convinced they had approved too many bond issues.

Additionally, Diamond said, the prospect of spreading the bond’s $9 million among 13 state institutions appeared meaningless to some voters.

“Some of our polling indicated the amount was too small and distributed too broadly,” he said. “We also did limited advertising on Question 6 with no television. So it was just not as highly visible a campaign as we did with Question 4.”

Proponents of four of the five bonds had raised a little more than $660,000 as of Oct. 27 to promote the proposals as part of various print, radio and television campaigns, according to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. Although there was no organized opposition to any of the borrowing plans, some Mainers expressed reservations about taking out large loans during a time of economic uncertainty to fund projects that could have been covered under the state budget.

On Tuesday, there was a steady stream of voters at Bangor High School, where many said they were motivated to turn out by the gay rights question, which led the ballot.

Still, voters like Michaeline Campbell would have voted regardless of the high-profile question because she viewed so many of the bond proposals as key to the state’s future. Campbell said she did not vote for all of the bonds but supported those that would help keep young people in Maine and those that improved the state’s infrastructure.

“We really need to get these things done,” she said.

Dave Rode agreed, maintaining the improvements that can be achieved through the amount of money borrowed along with matching funds would be well worth the investment.

“Everyone I’ve talked to agrees that it’s not a whole lot of money, and with the matching funds you’re really getting your buck’s worth,” he said.

Question 4, the second-largest bond request at $20 million, was praised by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development as a jobs initiative that would jump-start research and development projects in the state. Funding would benefit laboratories and research institutions, and provide state investment in scientific equipment, buildings and infrastructure.

Two funds administered by DECD would receive a total of $12 million, or about 60 percent of the total bond. Of that money, $8 million would go to the Maine Biomedical Research Fund and $4 million to the Marine Infrastructure and Technology Fund. There are only five entities in Maine allowed to apply to the biomedical research fund. Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory and The Jackson Laboratory, two Bar Harbor institutions that have grown significantly in recent years, are two of them. The Foundation for Blood Research and Maine Medical Center Research Institute, both in Scarborough, and University of New England in Biddeford are the other eligible organizations.

The largest bond request, $33.1 million for transportation projects, has been a major objective for Baldacci, who said the initiative would encourage economic development while providing thousands of construction jobs. If approved, the request would attract about $158 million in additional matching federal funds for transportation projects, giving Question 2 more than half of the economic punch of the entire bond package.

As transportation bonds go, the proposal offered by the governor and endorsed by two-thirds of the Legislature was modest. Only two years ago, voters approved a $63.45 million bond, and Tuesday’s question was the lowest-priced proposal to be placed before voters since 1991, when a $29.7 million bond was passed. That was the same year voters rejected six of seven bond proposals on the ballot. The last time a transportation bond failed was in 1969.

The third-largest bond proposal, Question 5, was viewed as essential to the Land For Maine’s Future program, which would receive the entire $12 million in the bond. Bruce Kidman, communications director for The Nature Conservancy in Brunswick, feared the program would lose momentum if it did not receive the cash infusion.

Since it began in 1987, LMF has made possible 120 land conservation projects throughout the state. Voters previously have approved two bonds for LMF projects: a $35 million bond in 1987 and a $50 million bond in 1999. In addition to public land, a $2 million chunk of the $12 million bond would be used for a pilot program to help fishermen buy commercial facilities such as wharves and warehouses.

Higher-education officials said passage of Question 6 not only would provide sorely needed funds for facilities upgrades; it also would enable the colleges to use a portion of those funds to leverage private donations. The $9 million bond question identified the need for $5 million in repairs and upgrades at the state’s seven community colleges and $2 million in building renovations at six of the seven campuses within the University of Maine System. It also would include $2 million for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine, the administrative center of the state’s growing Senior College program for people 55 and over.

Question 3, the smallest bond proposal at $8.9 million, would fund construction and upgrades of large water pollution control projects as well as resolve small but serious pollution problems in rural communities. It would also fund drinking water improvements in 17 communities and several farm irrigation and water source projects.

QUESTION 2

Do you favor a $33,100,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges; airports; public transit improvements; state-owned ferry vessels and ferry and port facilities including port and harbor structures; and statewide bicycle trail and pedestrian improvements that makes the state eligible for over $158,000,000 in matching funds?

QUESTION 3

Do you favor an $8,900,000 bond issue for purposes related to agriculture and the environment in anticipation of approximately $31,000,000 in federal funds to be used for sustainable water sources and irrigation system development, loans from a wastewater state revolving fund, grants from a small community grants program, support of public water system improvements and repairs and improvements to a veterinary technician facility at the University of Maine?

QUESTION 4

Do you favor a $20,000,000 bond issue to stimulate economic growth and job creation through investments in the Maine economy in anticipation of approximately $44,000,000 in federal and private funds for medical research and development; marine research and development; equity investments in small Maine companies with potential for high growth; the New Century Community Program for capital improvements to cultural resources; the renovation of Camden Hall on the University of Maine Bangor campus for a graduate school for biomedical science; the development of the Laboratory for Surface Science Technology; capital costs and equipment for the career center facility at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College; and the development of the Sunrise Business and Career Center in the town of Jonesboro?

QUESTION 5

Do you favor a $12,000,000 bond issue to purchase land and conservation easements statewide from willing sellers for conservation, water access, wildlife and fish habitat, outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing, farmland preservation and working waterfront preservation to be matched by at least $7,000,000 in private and public contributions?

QUESTION 6

Do you favor a $9,000,000 bond issue to make building renovations at campuses of the University of Maine System, improve and expand the facilities of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine and make building renovations at campuses of the Maine Community College System?