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Jay Finegan, 287-1445
May 1, 2009  
Bonnie Gould, 287-6557
     
GOP Legislative Leaders Find Budget Fix Lacking in Long-term Solutions

AUGUSTA – Republican legislative leaders said today that Governor Baldacci’s plan to close a $569 million budget gap relies too heavily on one-time savings and not enough on the kind of structural changes needed to put Maine in a stronger financial position going forward.

“It’s an underwhelming attempt at preserving the status quo,” said Rep. Josh Tardy (R-Newport), leader of the House Republicans. “It solves the immediate problem, but it fails to prepare the state for the future. The Revenue Forecasting Committee predicted this week that the next biennium – for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 – will bring a budget shortfall of $459 million. The governor had an ideal opportunity here to propose long-term solutions, but instead the next governor and the next Legislature will have to make some hard choices.”

Sen. Kevin Raye (R-Washington), leader of the Senate Republicans, said the governor’s proposal will require close scrutiny in the days ahead. “We will work to craft a responsible budget that can garner the two-thirds support needed for enactment,” he said. “Many of the provisions appear to be reasonable and are likely to be adopted. But we had expected the governor to propose more significant structural change to put Maine on sound financial footing for the long term. A number of the provisions proposed by the governor appear to be a series of measures designed only to get us through the immediate crisis.”

Both Republican leaders suggested that major changes may have to be made to the governor’s plan to win the votes of Republican legislators, whose support is essential to achieving a two-thirds majority budget. While not appearing to propose any new broad-based taxes, as promised, they said, the governor’s proposal needs to be reviewed closely in terms of its impact.

“We appreciate the governor’s effort,” said Rep. Tardy. “It’s disappointing that he decided to balance the budget on the backs of small business owners, working families and others who already are under tremendous stress. We’re also concerned that he left a $37.5 million placeholder, money to be saved by streamlining state government. We have the Brookings report and the McKinsey report on strategies to save significant amounts of money. We need to be implementing some of those ideas.”

“We need to look to the future and make the tough and responsible decisions necessary to avoid a repeat of these problems in the next biennium,” said Sen. Raye. “Leaving the problem for the next governor and the next Legislature should not be an option.”

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