In her State of the Budget Address on February 14, Governor Janet Mills declared that Maine’s fiscal health is strong and touted her Administration’s budget proposal as tackling many of Maine’s most pressing issues, from the workforce shortage to the housing crunch.
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“Our state stands on solid fiscal footing, and we are prepared to weather whatever economic challenges may come,†said Governor Mills. “The state of our budget is strong.â€
The Governor’s $10.3 billion budget proposal is balanced, does not raise taxes, and leaves the Rainy Day Fund untouched at a record high of more than $900 million.
It advances initiatives to address Maine’s most serious challenges, including continuing her free community college initiative for another two years, building more housing, and strengthening Maine’s health care system through investments in behavioral health, services for older Mainers and people with disabilities.
The proposal also makes an historic investment in infrastructure to unlock vast new sources of Federal funding to fix Maine’s multimodal transportation system.
“This budget proposal is strong. It is balanced. It lives within our means. It does not raise taxes. It makes meaningful investments in the things people rely on every day – while maintaining our record high Rainy Day Fund to protect us against an economic downturn. 18-time baseball All-Star Yogi Berra said, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there.’ Well, we know where we are going – and this budget is our blueprint to get there,†Governor Mills said.
“If we provide the human infrastructure – a strong health care system, good schools, housing, roads, child care, broadband – then the people of Maine will do the rest. And that is what this budget does – it carries forward what we promised to the people of Maine. With it, we will unlock our vast potential.â€
To complement her budget, the Governor also announced a series of new initiatives to tackle the opioid crisis and improve child welfare, and she pledged to sign into law new legislation that would adopt “Housing Firstâ€, a highly-successful and cost-effective approach to addressing homelessness.
The Governor also announced that she will propose creating four new District Court judgeships to help the courts relieve a backlog of cases. ■