AUGUSTA, Maine — Members of the Appropriations Committee late Thursday approved a series of bond proposals totaling more than $95 million that would fund highway projects, research and development, drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, higher education and the Land for Maine’s Future.
Republicans and Democrats on the Legislature’s budget committee spent Wednesday and most of the day Thursday discussing their options and then voting. Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, the Senate chair of the committee, said he was proud of the consensus on most items.
“We have had a very cordial and productive 48 hours,” he said.
Earlier this week, lawmakers learned the state could borrow as much as $200 million beginning with the 2014-15 biennial budget, but spread out over the next 10 years. According to a state fiscal office analysis, debt service payments from 2013 to 2015 will decline by nearly $30 million.
Democrats were hoping to get close to that $200 million benchmark since borrowing rates are so low and the need for infrastructure is so great. A number of business advocates also urged lawmakers this week to consider bonds as a way to stimulate the economy and create jobs.
Republicans, however, held firm to the $95 million number because they felt anything higher would be tough to sell to Maine voters.
Appropriations committee member Senator Roger Katz, R-Augusta, said the bonds strike “a reasonable balance between the unquestioned investment needs we face and our ability to afford more borrowing.”
“These targeted bonds will hopefully give us the most job creation bang for the buck,” he said.
The breakdown on what the Appropriations Committee passed Thursday looks like this: about $51 million would pay for transportation infrastructure; $20 million would support research and development; $11.3 million would go to higher education in Maine; about $8 million would help fund drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects and $5 million would support the Land for Maine’s Future program.
“These public investments will create jobs now and grow good-paying jobs for the future,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, the lead House Democrat on the committee. “The state could afford to do even more to create jobs but there was little political will from our Republican colleagues to do so.”
The bonds were crafted from 26 individual bills, some that were submitted last year and carried over and some that were introduced earlier this year. The original bills ranged in size from a few hundred thousands to tens of millions. Many of them overlapped.
The Appropriations Committee voted on each bond proposal individually rather than as a package and it appears as though that strategy is deliberate. If bonds are separated out rather than passed as a package, the governor would have the opportunity to veto them individually. If it’s put forward as a package, it’s all or nothing.
“We are concerned that the separate vote will set up one or more of the proposals to fail,” said Senator Dawn Hill, D-York. “If all five bonds pass the Legislature, the Republicans have given the governor a menu of options to reject rather than a single bipartisan package that was negotiated in good faith that we could all stand behind.”
Gov. Paul LePage already has said he doesn’t want to even talk about bonding until lawmakers address an estimated $90 million shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services budget for 2013.
The Appropriations Committee is expected to begin crafting a budget to address that shortfall as early as next week and the full Legislature is due back on May 15 to vote on a supplemental budget for DHHS.
“I would very much like to do infrastructure work on our roads and bridges with capital improvement money, but we can’t pay our current bills,” LePage said in a statement earlier this week. “It’s true that temporary jobs can be created through the use of bonds, but careers can also be saved by paying our hospital bills.”
LePage has not gone as far to say that he would veto any bond bill. All bonds require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate but they also must be approved by voters through a referendum. Lawmakers said they expect the $95 million worth of bond proposals to appear on the November ballot.
Rosen said the entire bond process has been unusual in the 125th Legislature.
“Usually there is a governor’s package that would be the template,” he said. “It became very clear last session that legislative leadership felt it prudent to take a rest and allow some bonds that have been authorized to work their way through the process and reduce the amount of bonds we’ve obligated ourselves to.”
Republicans and Democrats on Appropriations did split Thursday on how much to bond to improve higher education facilities and competitiveness. Democrats wanted to give an additional $3 million in funds to local campuses in the university system.
“Democrats think students at the local campuses from Aroostook to York should have the same opportunity to have improved laboratories and classrooms,” said Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake. “No campus should be shortchanged.”
Follow BDN writer Eric Russell on Twitter @BDNPolitics.
I say call his bluff our roads need to be rebuild who in there right mind would move a company to Maine with bad roads ??
I have a better idea wolly. How about either leasing the Maine Turnpike for X number of years for X billion dollars per year take that money along with the Gas Tax and fix the roads and build new ones that way. You can also legalize more Casinos /Horsetracks with Casinos, Slot Parlors along with other forms of Gambling and take a percentage of overall revenue and fix the roads that way. It is better than having a 20 year tax increase on struggling Maine citizen’s. Just Say No to Bonds. Maine can find new ways including the 2 I said that can fix our roads. Mainers don’t need new 20 year tax hikes.
NOT!! We are already paying taxes for our roads!
I said we don’t need anymore new tax hikes as what occurs when bond packages pass. If you read what I typed I think we can do it with the help of the private sector not government. We can also do it with new Casinos/Horsetrack Casinos, Slot Parlors and other forms of Gambling. Do like what other states do with the Casino money take the money and invest it in Infrastructure, Tax Relief and giving incentives to attact new businesses. What a concept none of which uses taxpayers dollars through tax hikes from gimmicks from borrowing. Democrats/Liberals want us to borrow our way into oblivion. So they can divert it to what they have been doing for decades and that is not creating jobs. Instead giving it to their voting blocks of Welfare Cases, Special Interest, Former Politicians and Enviros. Just Say No to Bonds and let them come back with real ideas that doesn’t put taxpayers on the hook.
I read your nonsense. What happens when the casinos blah blah blah you propose go belly up? Who pays then? Connecticut is swamped right now because of lack of projected revenues from casinos. Tax incentives (trickle down voodoo-George Bush’s words) to attract new business? How has that worked out for us? We just had to bail their asses out again. How do bonds increase taxes over 20 years? You may be fooled, but I’m not. I’m tired of republican/conservative corporate welfare that does 0 except cause bailouts. There’s your tax increases. How about taking a little change back from corporate america who just ran us off the cliff?
“How do bonds increase taxes over 20 years?”
You DO understand that you have to pay the bonds back plus interest with tax money…don’t you? Seriously…don’t you?
Do you really know the interest rate on bonds its very low i should know . I was going to get those bond in Maine to help out the state but when the broker told me that it was only three percent return so i did not get them the bonds i got was five percent return
Your broker did not tell you that the interest earned on some of these bonds are tax free?
He’s probably in the 50% of Mainers who don’t pay income tax.
yes i pay taxs on some of my income im not tax on my railroad retirement or on my ss retirement nice try
So your contribution to repaying these bonds will be minimal. Good to know.
No im paying what i owe by law no more no less
See im not taxed on all my on come were im retired so we figger out even if pay taxis on my bonds income i still make more money than i would on the tax free bonds thats the avantage i have
You are right once the rate is set it never increases for the life of the bond
Sorry, oldmainer, they DO NOT understand. That is why we keep having these bonds passed.
The silliness from some people is breathtaking. Maybe they think their mortgage isn’t a “debt,” too.
You can certainly say that again! There is a big difference between my mortgages and bonds implemented to operate. That being said I can speak for myself when I say my mortgages are not debt in my view. They are investments that I will eventually get a very fine return on. I will hope the same for you if you have any.
Sadly Naran I think the Democrats have brainwashed these people into voting for these bonds every year. Because the Democrats want them to pass the “investments”. So they can go off on their foolish spending spree and giving more handouts to folks who don’t need it. I am not hoodwinked never voted for a bond never will. I am also not happy that TABOR I and II didn’t pass, along with the Tax Cap. All 3 of which would have done Maine and its taxpayers good it would have given us huge relief. Instead the Welfare Crowd and The Mooching Special Interest, Enviros still have a stranglehold on our state. Until we defeat them our state will continue to struggle.
That does not mean taxes have to be RAISED to pay them back. Who are you trying to kid? We have to operate. Bonds are a very sound way of doing that if we aren’t robbing Peter to pay Paul. I understand very well thank you.
and not all the taxes we pay for roads-go to the roads, yet we hear “lets raise the gas tax. I would agree to raise it if 100% went to roads and not the black hole called “general fund”.
If you do a search all the gas an fuel tax is not enough to cover the cost of roads an bridges
correct, but if you read my comment again you will see that I am for a gas tax raise as long as 100% of the monies go to the roads , not the general fund. which if you research ~do not! I will NOT pay more to the state of Maine for gas tax and have them use the monies else where. I currently have the capacity to purchase all my fuel in New Hampshire. It wont cost me a dime more to do. and while I’m there might as well pick up some liquor and groceries and make it a good trip. Don’t even ask me why i ditched my fish and game plates-money I was willing to pay to protect our outdoors..can you research where it went? better yet just guess.. fiscal responsibility and democrats are oxy-MORONS in the same sentence,
Perhaps they should.
The money for our roads (gas tax) never gets there. We have discovered over the last year where all the money for the Turnpike went. NO MORE BONDS.
They need to. What we don’t need to do is throw the baby out with the bath water. Bonds only increase taxes if we let them. We don’t need to.
Are those taxes going to our roads or going to the general fund to be spent on welfare?
That is not my call. If it was, taxes would be correctly appropriated specifically to what we pay them for.
So why should we borrow to pay for things that we have already paid for?
As you said the money is being misappropriated and I am not in favor of taking out loans to fix things we already paid to have fixed.
Find out where our money went and this budget cycle take that money back. This year maybe welfare programs get no funding in order to pay back our tax money to the roads.
I have a better idea raise the tax on alcohol by a nickel a drink an by the bottle
Baldacci’s crew already spent years doing just that, raising “sin taxes.” What good did it do?
How about actually finishing some of the hundreds of road construction projects we already have going on before we decide to start some new ones. Between the mess they have going on Rt. 1, the constant construction on 95 and 295, and the useless filling of potholes around towns with crap that doesnt last more than a week, i think we have bitten off enough….I would not be willing to borrow more to start new projects that are either behind schedule, overpaid, or needless.
Ok while you are waiting for those projects to get done the other roads will be so bad that the whole road will half to be torn up an replace. The cost of that will be even more .
90 million shortfall, we fix it with 95 million in bonds. Interesting how they add.
Only in Augusta in the Legislature can you have huge shortfalls and push through huge borrowing packages. Republicans are following the same failed Democrat Party playbook . When they (Democrats) were in the majority Baldacci and King both with help of Dem controlled legislature bankrupted all the accounts including writing IOU’S to Maine Dot for Welfare Expansion. Then these folks always borrow their way out of it. Enough is Enough. It is time to get the private sector involved with building roads, or legalizing more Casinos and Gambling . Having them taking a small percentage each year from these new Casinos to pay for Infrastructure. But to expect Taxpayers to pay for new borrowing with huge tax hikes forget it VOTE NO. Why should we also pay for Envrios to get more land. This doesn’t create one job period LOL. More Liberal pet programs that are stinkers to only buy votes to only benefit special interest groups.
Lets get some super dooper low interest bonds and pay off the higher interest ones we have… Low interest is a tempting idea but we need to get costs down and pay our bills. Once they learn how to live within a budget without borrowing will we be safe.
No jobs from LMF? Umm, working waterfronts, forestry, farms… conservation not only saves traditional jobs (not to mention our Maine heritage) but supports the natural resourced based economy which includes Maine most profitable industry (tourism).
Special interest groups? As in the health insurance group the got a big boost from changing rules in Maine? or maybe the “private investers” who want to build a useless road across Maine?how about DeCoster Egg Farm? Repubs are experts on special interest groups
THE GOVERNOR SAWS NO BONDS THIS YEAR AND HIS PARTY CHAIR SAYS 95 MILLION IN BONDS. WHO’S GOING TO WIN-GOV OR LEGISTLATURE
The Maine voters will have the last word on borrowing.
Sadly, the Maine voters have never seen a bond they didn’t like.
Hold your ground governor.
Except the bonds are not going to be used to fix the shortfall. The shortfall exists. They just want to borrow 95 million more. That is debt that will be repaid with interest by someone in the future. Meanwhile the budget is not balanced…again.
If you have a shortfall and borrow money for bonds that means you have to pay them. If you do not have any money now. So we fix 90-93 million then we go out and borrow 95 million. Does not make a lot of sense.
This vote by the republicans is as laughable as the budget vote. It’s nothing more than another flim flam. They vote yes, the Governor says no, and they’ll cower with their tails between their legs and he wins. He blames it on them, they blame it on him but guess what? Convictionless cowards all. They seem to think they have come up with a very clever way to govern. The MO is transparent now, just not in the way the governor and the rest of the tea party promised thier governance to be transparent. It’s transparent all right.
Sorry again, but it was the bipartisan Appropriations Committee that passed this bond package; it has not passed the legislature. The AC needs to be reformatted.
No need to be sorry really. You missed my point I guess. Of course it was bipartisan, the democrats realize bonds work. It’s the republicans who vote yes and then say no when the chips are down that are the problem. Why do they vote yes if ultimatley it is against their convictions?
Cut cut the spending!!!!!!!!!
Cut college funding when they can spend millions on sports that has nothing to do with education.
If Lepage refuses to repair the roads he will be responsible when someone is killed.
So will you as a taxpayer.
Go fill some of those potholes.
Now.
If Republican lies and Lepage’s crimes where asphalt , we could cover the whole planet with hot top.
THE GOVERNOR SAYS NO BONDS THIS YEAR AND HIS PARTY CHAIR SAYS 95 MILLION IN BONDS. WHO’S GOING TO WIN THE GOV’NR OR THE LEGISTRATIVE COMMITTEE??
LePage’s comment is dead on: temporary construction jobs can be created through bonds, but careers can be saved by paying the hospital bills. Just say no to hospital layoffs. Maine needs to pay what we owe now before we add more to our debt.
Bonds are not debt my friend, they are loans that get paid back with interest. He promised to pay off the hospital debt to get elected. Not only has he not paid off the debt to hospitals, he has added on to it. On top of that he has decided to cut even more from what is due the hospitals. He is a flim flammer. Lucky for him the days of tar and feathering and being run out on a rail are gone. He’d get both. He is holding us hostage from our own money. My question to you is why hasn’t he paid off the hospitals as he promised when running for office? Because we “can’t afford it?” Then how on earth did we afford his tax cuts that have and will not produce 0? Look at the numbers. He is losing more jobs than he is creating while he guts with the one hand and spends hand over fist with the other. How are you fooled by that?
Prior to LePage being elected, the hospital debt was some $4oo million. Gov. LePage paid it down to $125 million – in his first year in office.
http://articles.boston.com/2011-01-13/news/29345955_1_hospital-debt-budget-proposal-budget-revision
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2011/01/12/health/with-supplemental-budget-lepage-seeks-to-pay-hospital-mainecare-dept/
There may be new debts on top of the $125 million, but it’s not accurate to say that he hasn’t paid down any hospital debts.
He did more in that regard in one year than Baldacci did in eight.
He paid it down by taking money from DHHS. Where do you think some of that DHHS money would have gone? To pay hospitals for Mainecare. Now the hospitals have to assume that cost when someone with low income comes in for service. Tell me where the savings is!
Your comments make no sense. They are also inaccurate.
If your were sick and had no money, where would you go? Who would pay the bill?
Bonds are not debt
LOL LOL LOL LOL No wonder we’re in such a mess..
Well……..they aren’t.
In fairy tales.
And Augusta.
If you try again maybe you can squeeze ONE true statement into your paragraph. You started with “bonds are not debt” (ROFLMAO) and just went downhill from there.
Sorry Tom: bonds are not debt, they are loans that get paid back with interest? What is a loan that gets paid back? It is a debt! Plus you are paying back more than you borrowed. (interest).
Much of the hospital debt was paid back.
If you borrow money, YOU HAVE TO PAY IT BACK! Therefore it is called debt.
Bonds definitly are debt. Your second sentence is correct in that bonds are loans that must be paid back with interest. Therefore when you make a loan, you incur debt. Bonds from the 2 previous administrations are a major reason the state is in money trouble. LePage might be somewhat verbally abrasive, but he is the most financially responsible governor we’ve had in years.
Do you mean to say if i take out a loan to buy a house and because i pay back interest it is not a dept? I guess i missed that one in Economics class.
spend spend spend that all these losers know . Borrow your way out of debt warren buffet would be proud.
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When the bond issues come up for a vote it is possible to VOTE THEM DOWN. We, the voters, do have the ability to VOTE NO on the bonds put before us. Good heavens, $20 Million for research and development. Give me a beeak. What a waste. Research and development should come from private money. If we are going to borrow $95 Million we should put it ALL into our horrible secondary roads.
There are not enough sensible voters. Every bond issue gets passed. Too many eating cake and keeping it too: they keep theirs and eat ours.
Not the liberals, esepcially Democrats, has Southern Maine ever voted down a bond issue?
Not ” anticipated or estimated ” but the fact is the United States Gross Federal Debt was $13.5 Trillion in FY 2010 and $14.8 Trillion in FY 2011.
Soon to be completed FY 2012 debt is “predicted ” to be $16.4 Trillion.
That trillions, not billions.
The U.S. House & Senate are ” talking ” about limiting spending but it’s an Election Year.
Redundant but to quote my grandfather from 1954 at age 70 when he was discussing the Great Depression. ” Talks cheap but it takes $$ to buy rum. ” This from a man born in 1884, never drank but just the sad state of affairs in 1930.
Will the ” political ” term in 2013 be ” recession ” OR will the ” Politicians ” finally acknowledge that the country is in a DEPRESSION ??
The Governor is trying to limit spendings for the remainder of FY 2012 where ” ….. the state’s estimated annual debt service is about $95 million, ….. “
What has the Legislature been smoking and where can I get some ! They want to start this bond nonsense up again while Maine already has outstanding bond’s out there ? Even LePage, nutso as he is, can see where this is headed, and I’m not one of his biggest fan’s. Rosen and the rest of the GOP’rs who vote for this are now squarely sitting in the middle of the Nov.6th ground zero of the voter’s wrath. And as independent as I am, if Peggy Rotundo thinks that her claims of needed investing are gonna get anywhere, I for one would seriously suggest that she try it again. Any vote for these bond’s, by either side, is a guaranteed vote toward starting up this Tea Party hoopla all over again. Is it me or are the Dem’s and GOP’rs determined to keep feeding this monster simply to have something to run against ? Maine needs to restore some simple financial sanity and principle’s. With the current economy the way it is, and nowhere is there any responsible business investment seen happening in Maine, the issuing of a Bond Package is a total waste of time and money when the cash behind this could be put to better use, as in Paulie’s call for the DHHS mess to get straightened out.
Investing is a good thing. But you also need a stable source of revenue as a start. Bond’s are, now more than ever, a risky proposition since they require regular servicing, in the form of interest payent’s, that tend to drain the Bond’s investment capital away from the investment and into the Bondholder’s pocket’s. I, for one as an Inependent, would rather see the current outstanding bond’s be retired with the current cash that the State Treasurer say’s Maine has and then do another bond issue submitted to the voter’s first. Then at least Maine starts of with a clean slate. Right now Maine has a coloring book. A deliberate and planned Bond offering, once the current ‘coloring book’ mess is retired, would go a very long way in demonstrating both financial responsibility, a ‘pay-as-you-go’ approach to the business community (that they keep squawking about) and, also, some legislature grasp of the money market’s fundamental’s that market’s themselves use. A plan thought out is far more likely to be both workable and effective as opposed to a ‘Screaming Chicken’ plan put out that has all the success possibility of a chicken being able to fly across the Atlantic. And not be a ‘Baby Ruth in the pool” I have yet to see the changes that the DECD called for after the Kestrel mess that the DECD itslef called for. Any Bond money is going to have to go thru the DECD. The means for it to get there are, that are publicly seen, no where to be seen.
Right – it looks like they keep moving the line between what is infrastructure and what is maintenance.
I’d like more information on how “debt service payments from 2013 to 2015 will decline by nearly $30 million” this is accomplished. So lets SPEND that and 65 million more !! Hmmmm
10 years ago my professional license cost $275 every two years. Now it is $475 per year. The reason is that we are a self regulated profession so we fund all expenses related to complaints being investigated and the related hearings to determine if they have merit . Every year any money left in our account for these expenses is “swept” into the general fund and we start over from scratch. If Maine government needs to rob from everyone to pay the current bills, they sure as heck shouldn’t be adding to debt, good cause or not. The problem is people like Peggy Rotundo have built careers on spending other peoples money and they have built up a good following from the folks that are on the receiving end of these tax and spend programs.
You people don’t want roads an bridges fixed good than start posting signs pass at your own risk . That should bring plenty of companies to Maine
We could squeeze the “tar” out of Grover Norquist, that would probably pave half the roads right there !
I say screw it, lets do the bonds package, the world is going to end on dec. 21st anyways…
although, there is the old saying: Live like the world will end tomorrow, spend like it will not.
Read my lips; NO MORE BONDS!
So ile tell you what should be done than when the roads gets to bad shut it down hows that ?
Use Highway funds,
They are rebuilding a bridge in Bangor that was built durning the John Baldacci years as Governor..
When they built the interstate the bridges lasted 40 years without touching them, Now they can’t seem to build a bridge that last 10 years without major reconstruction. Why is that..
I don’t know you would half to ask an engineer
Well who fault is it you get what you pay for every one wants it done for the cheapest price an this is what you get. It cost money to do things right
You budget for them in the first place.
How do you budget for them as you say when the tax on gas an fuel is not enough to pay for the roads. So you want to wait on the roads till you have the money to pay to totally redo the roads an in the mean time every year you wait the cost keeps going up you can never save enough money to totally pay from the roads. Why you bough your house an car dod you save the money so you could pay cash for them ?
“… about $8 million would help fund drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects …”
Oh joy of joys. Those of us with our own private wells and septic systems, who must maintain those systems, once again get to pay for improvements to public water supplies and wastewater treatment facilities that we will never, ever get to use.
Those public water and wastewater treatment improvements should be paid for by the users through their usage fees… not by the general public… especially considering about half the state never, ever gets to use these facilities.
I could say the same for schools i have no kids in school why should i pay for that ??
Good question, why should you pay for schools that overspend and aren’t held accountable for anything they do. 42 millon in Bangor alone and never have their budget sent back for revision.. Bangor school system can bond without voter approval.. How does a school get to bond without voter approval in the first place. So to your question, You shouldn’t have to pay for schools if you have no kids…
When the public can hold them accountable for their waste and have a voice in it then maybe you would have to pay for it…
For those whose say the public votes on school budgets, why isn’t the public notified when the budget comes up to vote on through the media?? only after the fact does school budgets get noticed. speaking of the Bangor area.
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LePage gave away $300,000 to Cianbro for their private E/W toll road.
But bonds for public transportation infrastructure?
not so much.
LePage – worst governor evah
yessah
Which will be repaid once the study is complete.. you have to read whole article’s not just headlines
Which is “suppose” to be repaid. When it actually happens brag about it.
Ummm – no.
Cianbro will repay the taxpayers for their Socialist Tea Party GOP LePage Corporate Welfare Subsidy – if, and only if, the project is built.
If it doesn’t fly – say bye bye to that $$$$$
Yessah
Nice to see that someone else reads ALL of the E-W Study’s provision’s. You can bet the farm that once the whole of this Study is read, and someone actually put’s it up on a chalkboard (Sorry, I just dated myself !) and chart’s it out, with ALL of the pre-condition’s exposed, this Study is gonna be canned faster than Osama over the side into the ocean ! No Bond Money for these pet project’s ! Paulie wants it so bad, fine. He can have his buddies in ALEC and the MHPC pony it up, and get it reimbursed IF the road is ever built. If the State has to take a gamble, then it’s only right that the Private Sector take it as well. And you can bet that the Private Sector is gonna be a lot more demanding as far as seeing just where the real money is gonna come from before they even think of going near their own wallet or checkbook to spend a single dime of their own.
No more Land for Maines future.. It started back durning the Angus King years and was supposed to be a one year thing.. Every Single year they Bond for this. Then we have to pay to take care of it… enough is enough. We have a couple thousand people who want Maine’s 1.3 millon people to pay for their hobby.. Just say no to land bond.
Stop spending money we don’t have.
Stop fixing roads we don’t need them if roads get to bad just post sign pass at your own risk
Make roads a priority. A god place to start cutting to free up road funds would be full time benefits for part time jobs in the legislature.
What dose God half to do with it ?
$5 Million for Land for Maine’s Future? Please reference ‘Agenda 21’ and proceed cautiously.
This state has approximately 11 billion dollars in various debt that we as taxpayers are footing the bill for in one way or another. I went to the treasurers page and added them up. this is information that the author should put in this article and then we would be able to make informed comments. Itt appears to me that those who oppose the bonds must have done their homework those that haven’t do not get it.
So dose that mean that the state should not put bonds out to fix our roads ??
wollydevil for someone to be as outspoken as you about roads , I’m asumming you have a vested interest in making money at it.
No i will not buy state bonds even if they are tax free little return unless i invest 300,00 or more
It could mean that. What should be done is the state needs to look at the taxes that are raised for highways and see where they are acutally going. Then channel them back to the highways where they belong. When that is done and they know how much they have in the budget then maybe they could look at bonding or better yet prioritizing the needs first. Next is that all the other items on the bond wish list need to go away. If our university system needs funding have them partner with the private sector to pay for the studies that their companies are making and or testing.
Until there is consistency in Maine’s budget, it is short sighted to even consider more bonds at the present time. Maine already cannot pay its bills. Adding to that burden is ridiculous to even think about. Low interest rates should never entice you to borrow. It is exactly that kind of thinking that got this State and country in the mess we are now in.
I vote against bonds.
You vote against jobs and maintaining our economic infrastructure.
yessah
If bonds did anything for maintaining our economic infrastructure Maine would be #1 for business and jobs instead of #50.