Williams proposes sustainable state budgetting process

Baldacci’s budget fix frustrates candidates

Some say the governor’s action fails
to make needed structural changes
in state government.

By MATT WICKENHEISER
Press Herald Staff Writer
December 21, 2009

Gov. John Baldacci has proposed a plan that plugs a $438 million hole in Maine’s current two-year budget.

The midpoint for that biennium is July 1, 2011. Before that, in November 2010, voters will elect a replacement for Baldacci, who is barred by term limits from running for re-election.

So whoever is elected out of what today is a broad field of candidates will have to contend with how Baldacci’s proposed budget cuts affect state government.

A number of those candidates commented on Baldacci’s plan, which also must be worked on and approved by the Legislature.

Many, regardless of party, were unhappy that the budget plan didn’t make structural changes in state government.

Lynne Williams, a Green Independent candidate from Bar Harbor, said she has proposed basing the annual budget on a five-year moving average. The average would be based on actual income, not unpaid taxes or fines – just what the state takes in. And that average would be the ceiling for the next year’s budget.

“What that does is it evens out the cyclical, up-and-down nature of the thing,” Williams said.

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