In case you missed the announcement by the Mills Administration, Maine is expected to have a $1 billion shortfall in the next biennium budget. It’s no surprise to us – Republican lawmakers have been warning about the lack of any fiscal restraint by Maine’s governor and the legislative Democrat majority for the past six years.
Well, now it seems this poor fiscal management has come home to roost. Unfortunately, it may end up being quite painful to solve.
Hello, this is Senator Marianne Moore. It is my honor to serve communities in Hancock and Washington counties. Thank you for joining me for this week’s Republican Radio Address.
Democrats have had control of both the Legislature and Blaine House since 2018, which put them in a position to be able to pass majority partisan budgets without any Republican support. And as you would expect, Democrats have made spending nearly every dollar collected by the State a priority over the past six years instead of any meaningful tax relief.
The only exception was the rare supplemental budget that gained some Republican support because it put rebate checks in the hands of Maine’s taxpayers, which Gov. Janet Mills dubbed “economic relief.” In reality, she simply agreed to send taxpayers some of their own money back because she wasn’t allowed to spend it under Maine’s budget limitation law.
In other words, Augusta had an obscene amount of a surplus. That much was obvious.
Still, Democrats have had total control over the budgeting process the past six years and have grown our state budget by 57% since Gov. Mills took office. And with over 20% inflation since the Biden-Harris administration took office in 2021, higher tax receipts just kept flowing into Augusta to cover the spending.
It’s like a vicious circle has developed as higher prices and wages led to higher taxes and higher spending, all repeating itself the past few years; but it eventually had to crash. And now Democrats must own their billion-dollar mess. They can’t run and hide from it.
First EV mandates and now billion-dollar budget gaps. Haven’t we learned anything from California?
But look, much of it has to do with how we budget to begin with. During every cycle, the heads of each Executive Branch agency come before the Legislature and present us with a baseline budget we must never touch and all their “new initiatives” that will result in added spending.
The problem is revenue has never been our problem. We have a spending problem.
Under our Constitution, we are required to have a balanced budget. The 2026-2027 biennial budget forecast released by the Mills Administration, however, shows a projected General Fund shortfall of more than $636 million despite an increase in revenue of $336 million. For the Highway Fund, the shortfall is expected to be around $313 million, as revenues stay relatively flat.
So, we have a problem that is only solved by either raising more revenue, cutting spending or a combination of both. But since we already have the fourth-highest tax burden and the highest property tax burden in the nation, can we really tax Maine’s people more?
Obviously not, given that the cost of electricity, eggs, milk, gas and other critical necessities are still stubbornly high. And as I said earlier, we don’t have a revenue problem. We have simply overdrawn the checking account.
A look at history also tells us all we need to know. When Gov. LePage took office in 2011, Maine faced a $1.2 billion budget gap in its General Fund after years of poor economic management under the Baldacci Administration. By the time he left office, it was projected to be down to $165 million.
Unfortunately, we’re now headed in the same direction under Democrat control. Maine’s General Fund budget has grown from $6.8 billion in the 2018-2019 biennium – the last cycle when Republicans held the Blaine House and the majority in the Senate – to about $10.7 billion today including one-time transfers. That doesn’t even include the billion or so dollars spent by the Mills Administration through federal COVID funds that ballooned the price of everything.
As I said earlier, legislative Republicans have been warning about this fiscal cliff for years and we’re now teetering on the edge of it. In January, the incoming Legislature will have to deal with the Democrats’ fiscal mess likely through a series of cuts to state spending, meaning programs and services that may be vital to many Mainers.
And yes, Democrats will have to own that, too.
Again, this is Senator Marianne Moore of Washington County. Thank you for listening.
Senator Marianne Moore represents District 6, which includes communities in Washington and Hancock counties. She is the Senate Republican Lead for the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
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