Mary Mayhew, commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, needs to get a grip on that department’s finances or Gov. Paul LePage needs to find someone who can.

Mayhew told the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee last week that her department’s funding deficit had jumped by $50 million over the course of two weeks.

Mayhew said the shortfall was created by a combination of factors, including a 2011 budget that was inadequate and a balky computer system that makes it difficult to track reimbursement claims.

Her vague answers did not inspire confidence on the Appropriations Committee.

At the time of her appointment, Mayhew seemed like an experienced, well-qualified person for the job. She had been a health-care lobbyist, was on Gov. Paul LePage’s transition team and has now spent 10 months atop the troubled department.

It takes some time for anyone to settle in. But 10 months?

“We don’t know if these numbers are credible at this point,” state Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, told the Sun Journal. “We know there’s a shortfall, but we don’t know what the shortfall is or what’s driving it.”

And that’s dangerous for a Legislature that will soon have to consider a supplemental budget request to help close the gap.

Rotundo worries that incorrect numbers could stampede the Legislature into making cuts that will hurt Maine’s young, old and disabled residents.

In the absence of firm figures and solid explanations, alternative theories abound.

Some suspect the numbers are being intentionally skewed to justify large cuts LePage would like to make to DHHS programs. In other words, this could be a crisis manufactured for political leverage.

We hope that’s not the case.

To state Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, the culprit may be inexperienced DHHS leadership, which sounds more likely.

Over the past year, Mayhew has fired 10 top managers in the department in what LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett described in August as a “cultural change.”

Those firings included Tony Marple, director of MaineCare Services, who was widely respected for his expertise.

“I would say they are not able and don’t have the skilled staff to make the projections,” Craven told the Sun Journal.

Perhaps most troubling is the way the state’s computer system is costing taxpayers money.

That system has failed to meet federal standards since 2005. Since it is out of compliance, the federal government reduces Maine’s reimbursement rate for services by 25 percent.

While other states get more help, Maine taxpayers are left making up the difference for the department’s incompetent computer.

The fault for that lies with LePage’s predecessor, former Gov. John Baldacci, and it has been a well-documented embarrassment for years.

Why isn’t fixing that system a higher priority?

LePage and the Legislature have made a priority of reducing welfare costs, and Maine voters have expressed a clear desire to do so.

It is, of course, the governor and Legislature’s rightful role to determine just how generous the state can afford to be.

But that frank discussion is impossible unless DHHS can provide reliable information for policymakers to consider.

rrhoades@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.