September 22, 2024
Editorial

BY THE NUMBERS…

Gov. John Baldacci used a lot of numbers in his State of the State address Wednesday night. Here are some of them:

$1.2 billion – The state budget shortfall Baldacci faced shortly after he was elected in 2002. The governor gets little credit for having closed this gap while avoiding broad tax and fee increases.

$160 million – The amount of reserves currently salted away in the state’s Rainy Day Fund, enough money to run state government for 12 days.

600 – The number of state jobs eliminated since 2003 when Baldacci was elected. More than 13,000 jobs remain.

1950s – The period when many of Maine’s government systems were created. The Sinclair Act, which created the school administrative districts, and other bureaucracies came as the state entered the bustling post-World War II era.

40,000 – The decline in the student population in Maine since the early 1980s; the student population is expected to drop by another 20,000 in the next five years. Baldacci’s educational consolidation plan reduces school districts from 290 to 80.

400 – The increase in school administrators since the 1980s.

42 million – The number of people who visited Maine last year.

10, 6 – The governor’s plan to reorganize upper and middle management at the Department of Health and Human Services would “reduce from 10 to six the number of central offices in the agency and consolidate management at the regional level,” he said.

28,000 – The number of Mainers insured through Dirigo Health. “I believe health care is a fundamental and basic right. Every man, woman and child should be able to count on receiving the care they need when they need it,” the governor said.

$1 million, $250,000, $100 and 80 percent – The Keep Maine Warm Fund has raised $1 million to help needy families heat their houses; the governor announced that L.L. Bean will donate $250,000 to the fund. Oil now sells for $100 a barrel, and 80 percent of Mainers heat with that fuel.

$2 billion, 30 percent-50 percent – Wind-power development approved in Maine to date equals $2 billion; at state buildings where heat plants will be converted to wood pellets or wind power, a 30 percent to 50 percent savings is expected.

25 – The number of years John and Karen Baldacci have been married, an anniversary they celebrated Tuesday.


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