AUGUSTA – Members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee were informed Thursday by the Baldacci administration that the state will need to make a $60 million adjustment to the state budget before the current fiscal year ends June 30.

The supplemental budget request was delivered by Rebecca Wyke, the governor’s chief of finance, on the same day lawmakers received an overview of the governor’s $5.7 billion budget for the next two fiscal years.

Many of the revisions were required because of greater than anticipated participation in several state programs, while other accounts fell short because of the unexpected rise in the cost of fuel. Other shortfalls were identified in the state’s foster care program and Medicaid accounts.

Major line items included:

. $40 million from various Department of Health and Human Services accounts.

. $17 million in the Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement Program.

. $2 million in the circuit breaker program.

Wyke said the administration has identified $88.7 million in available surpluses from other programs and from anticipated revenue increases to offset the $60 million, but required lawmakers’ approval to move the dedicated funds from various accounts. She also identified about $28 million worth of additional expenditures that required legislative approval for the current fiscal year:

. $16.3 million for property tax relief, a portion of which would be carried over to fund the governor’s most recent tax relief proposal in LD 1.

. $5 million for collective bargaining on state salaries.

. $2.4 million to replenish money borrowed from the Maine Clean Election Fund.

Wyke said most of the additional spending needs beyond the budget deficit had been identified last year and that the entire package would be reviewed in a coming public hearing.

Democrats and Republicans staked out opposing views on the significance of Thursday’s budget developments. Rep. H. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, said that it appeared the governor was eliminating the entire buffer remaining in the current year budget and would be ill-prepared to deal with an unexpected financial crisis should one arise. The GOP member of the Appropriations Committee also took issue with the level of familiarity he and others on the panel had with several of the “potential needs” identified as priorities by Wyke beyond closing the $60 million gap.

“Many of these we were totally unaware of, and it ends up with the administration spending closer to $90 million altogether,” he said. “That begins to become a little more problematic, particularly when you think back to last session when we covered almost $100 million in shortfalls in each of the two years back then.”

House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, said the $60 million supplemental request for the Legislature did not represent a major setback for the current year budget and instead appeared to be “a reasonable approach” to closing the gap before June 30.

Most of the money that is being counted on to pay for the supplemental budget request, according to Wyke, is expected to come from increased revenues which the state’s revenue forecasting commission is now projecting.

“Obviously, if the revenue forecasts for an upward trend are incorrect, we’ll have to go back and sharpen the pencil,” Richardson said.