AUGUSTA – Maine legislators receive automatic stipends for travel, meals and lodging – even if they avoid out-of-pocket expenses by carpooling, brown-bagging or staying at a friend’s house in Augusta. No receipts have to be presented in order to get paid.

Critics of the system say there’s a need to make it more transparent.

“We should have receipts,” said Jon Bartholomew of Common Cause Maine, a nonpartisan group that works for government accountability. “It’s not difficult to do.”

Payments include a fixed allowance of $38 a night for legislators who stay in Augusta and $32 a day for food. During the last session, the average lawmaker collected more than $5,700 in mileage, food and lodging allowances.

Some suggest that the various allowances are simply a mechanism to provide additional pay to legislators without having to vote for a salary increase, which could pose political problems.

Maine is not the only state that makes payments to legislators without requiring them to submit receipts for actual expenses. Lawmakers in at least half of the 50 states receive fixed allowances for expenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

While no Maine lawmakers are proposing a different system, members of both major political parties say they favor greater transparency.

“I’d like to see a system that is a lot more straightforward and parallels what goes on in business,” said Kevin Glynn, a former Republican representative from South Portland who lost a race for the Senate.

Supporters of the current system include Ben Dudley, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, who said the legislative salary of $22,039 for the two-year session is modest.