AUGUSTA – On Tuesday, Gov. John Baldacci invited reporters into his office because he wanted to spread some news.

To his delight, he announced that the fiscal year will end June 30 in the black. And, there’ll be a surplus – a small one but a surplus of $30 million to $35 million.

“I was encouraged,” Baldacci said, who took the opportunity to retell how the state faced a $1.2 billion budget deficit when he took office two years ago. In January, the deficit was $733 million, which included $265 million as a result of last June’s referendum directing the state to spend more on education and lower property taxes.

Pet peeve: Politicians frequently boast they’re both giving more money to education AND cutting property taxes, but both are coming from the same pot of money. How much property taxes will be cut remains to be seen, depending on whether municipalities adhere to 3 percent spending caps, and some (we’ll name names later) don’t seem to be doing that.

Regardless, Maine’s budget is ending in the black. Oh, happy day. Not only does Maine have black ink, the state savings account is at $50 million, up from zero, and tax anticipation notes (money the state borrowed to get by until the money arrived) have shrunk from $275 million to $190 million.

“Those are the facts,” Baldacci said. “Maine’s finances are improving” without raising broad-based taxes.

Of course, Republicans point out that the budget was balanced by deficit-spending borrowing.

Meanwhile, Maine’s jobs have increased better than the region’s, Baldacci said, and Maine’s per capita income improved from 35th in the nation to 30th, closer to the middle.

At 9:30 a.m. today, Baldacci will be at the New York Stock Exchange ringing the opening bell, an event where he’ll promote Maine as a state poised for growth. Joining him will be state Treasurer David Lemoine and Mike Dubyak, CEO of Wright Express.

The bad news about the state surplus to some people is that if you’re one of those who sent in a last-minute check April 15 to pay more state income tax, that surplus (cha-ching) came, in part, from you.

That brought Baldacci to another point: Maine’s income tax is too high, and he has a plan to bring income taxes down.

Coming up: This week, the governor will present his Part II budget, additions or subtractions to the budget passed in late March. And sometime soon, lawmakers will vote on sending a bond package to the voters in November. That may be ugly. While Baldacci preaches working together, Democrats and Republicans are not getting along.

River hearing runs on

On Wednesday, a hearing on two Androscoggin River water quality bills lasted eight hours. The hearing on L.D. 99 and L.D. 1533 began at 10 a.m., and ended around 6 p.m. The first bill had to do with tougher water quality standards, the second was on releasing Gulf Island Pond dam water in the summer to exterminate algae blooms.

So many legislators spoke for or against, followed by questions from Natural Resource Committee members, followed by testimony from DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher and Land and Water Quality Bureau Director Andrew Fisk, followed by more committee member questions, that no one from the public got to say anything for nearly three hours.

From 10 until nearly 1, two rooms full of people waited and listened. Some hearings do last for several hours, but it’s uncommon for one to last eight hours.

Quote of the week: “It’s really not a concern of mine. I don’t live there.” – Rep. Ray Pineau, D-Jay, when asked whether releasing Gulf Island Pond water would result in some loss of shoreland near homes.

Someone in the audience hissed.

Bonnie Washuk is a Sun Journal State House reporter.