AUGUSTA — Maine’s retail sector is scrambling to figure out the implications of a section of Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed budget that would change how they are taxed on business equipment. The governor’s proposed budget eliminates the Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement, or BETR, program, a property tax relief program created by Gov. Angus King in […]
Paul LePage
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage’s hospital debt plan depends on more liquor revenue
State officials estimate Maine can earn $30 million in profit annually from liquor sales under those more favorable terms. If LePage receives the two-thirds legislative support he needs for the plan, the state would direct the entire $30 million annual sum toward paying down the revenue bonds LePage hopes to issue this year to pay […]
advertisement
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine schools say proposed budget will cost $27 million
AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine school districts said Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed budget for the next two years will result in a $27 million tax shift to local property owners. The Maine School Management Association said the budget cuts nearly $13 million through LePage’s curtailment order, and also seeks to require school districts to contribute $14 […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Budget bill worries Maine Clean Election advocates
AUGUSTA (AP) — Supporters of Maine’s law allowing public financing of elections are worried by a portion of Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed budget, which they say would deprive legislative and gubernatorial candidates of funds for their 2014 campaigns. The budget seeks to cut $2 million disbursements for the Maine Clean Election fund in each of […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage announces plan to repay hospitals
PORTLAND — Gov. Paul LePage on Tuesday announced a wide-ranging plan to repay hospital debt approaching $500 million, release voter-approved bonds for highways and other public improvements, and construct a new prison to replace the aging, inefficient one in Windham. Speaking at a press conference at the construction site of the University of New England […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage to announce plan to repay $186M owed to hospitals
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage will unveil a plan Tuesday afternoon to pay $186 million the state owes in back payments to hospitals. The governor will release his proposal during an event at the University of New England’s dental school, which is under construction on Stevens Avenue in Portland. Maine’s 39 hospitals are owed $484 […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage proposes $100M Maine prison bond
AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine’s medium-security prison in Windham, which has been added on to in stages through the decades, would be replaced if a $100 million bond proposed by Gov. Paul LePage is approved. Corrections Department spokeswoman Jody Breton told the Kennebec Journal in Augusta that preliminary plans call for eight of the Maine Correctional […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Proposed LePage budget includes income tax hike
The Portland Press Herald reported the increase would result from a two-year suspension of the state’s indexing of the individual tax rate. Indexing takes inflation into account in calculating taxes. The proposal in the governor’s two-year, $6.3 billion budget for the two fiscal years beginning July 1 would bring a projected increase of more than […]
Posted inOur View
Governor’s budget relies on cost shifting
You have to wonder what Maine’s municipalities did to irritate Gov. Paul LePage. He is, after all, a former mayor himself and certainly understands the way local communities depend upon revenue sharing. Mayors and municipal managers around the state must have been shocked Friday when the governor’s staff proposed a two-year suspension of that program […]
Posted inMaine
Governor’s budget proposal freezes revenue sharing with towns and cities
AUGUSTA — The administration of Gov. Paul LePage on Friday unveiled a proposed $6.3 billion budget that eliminates more than 200 state positions and drastically reduces the amount of tax revenue the state shares with local towns and cities. The budget includes tweaks to the state’s tax code that would increase some revenue from those […]