Maine’s budget is a mess. There appears to be a $190 million dollar budget gap which many say is due to lagging tax revenue. (It’s not, but more on that later.)
Maine law requires the budget to be balanced. Governor John Baldacci’s plan is to balance the state budget with program cuts and fee increases.
In other words, he doesn’t want to raise taxes.
As you might expect, he has been criticized by a host of people who depend on state spending. Well guess what folks, there’s only two ways to balance the budget — either raise taxes or reduce spending.
I applaud the Governor for sticking to his guns and proposing that cuts alone can get us out of this budget crisis.
In a recent editiorial, the Portand Press Herald agrees. They’ve said so more than once, and they’re right. I don’t know anyone who wants their taxes to go up.
But boy, don’t the folks who get state money complain? As reported in the paper today, no one wants to see their funding reduced.
The Governor’s proposal is to cut $7.1 million from the University of Maine system, another $2 million from community colleges and $34 million from kindergarten through grade 12 funding.
“Waaa,” — cried UMS Chancellor Pattenaude who said that it would mean an increase in tuition and the loss of lots of jobs. (Don’t forget that Pattenaude is the former President of the University of Southern Maine campus and left it with a multimillion dollar shortfall a few years ago. What consequences did he suffer for his horrible budget oversight of the USM campus? — he was promoted to Chancellor of the entire University of Maine system. Yeah, good job.)
Just read today’s newspaper article and see how everyone thinks that their budget can’t be cut at all without all hell breaking loose. They’d be devistated to have cuts in education; the civil air patrol would be crippled; Richmond recreation would be take significant hits; the Phillips fish hatchery would mean the loss of thousands of stockable fish; and closing the Houlton revenue service wouldn’t make financial sense.
Sorry folks, something’s gotta go.
There are no good choices on what to cut — but cuts need to be made. I’m delighted that the Governor is refusing to raise taxes but I do feel bad for all those who might lose their jobs due to budget cuts. But education and social service programs make up 80% of the state budget — which means they’re going to take a significant hit. Period.
This mess isn’t the Governor’s fault — it’s the Legislature’s fault for past years of out-of-control spending. Blaming it on a lagging tax revenue is short-sided and wrong. Sure, the state may not being taking in as much money as they anticipated, but that’s just half the problem.
The real issue is that Maine has a hugely inefficient legislature that spends money as if it grew on trees. We need to reduce the size of our bloated legislature, cut down the size of our over-stuffed government, purge the waste from state goverment, make inefficiency a thing of the past, and get on with our lives.
So suck it up folks — let the Governor do his job without raising taxes and accept the consequences of past excesses.
For our part, we should demand government accountablilty in spending. Elect only those who want to reform and reduce the size of government. Have the state run it’s ship the way most of us have to do at home — by watching where every dollar goes.
And next time you see the Governor, shake his hand and tell him what a good job he’s doing.
