AUGUSTA – Legislative budget writers, aiming at a bipartisan agreement on spending adjustments of more than $160 million, appeared only intermittently in recent days from meetings outside their committee room.
Tentative plans called for replacing a $25 million transportation bond proposal put forth by Gov. John Baldacci with $15 million in cash for highway projects, according to ranking Democratic lawmakers.
Negotiators were also looking to reduce a sum of $35 million that the governor would set aside in a budget stabilization fund to $29 million, still enough to boost the reserve to $100 million.
In addition, budget bargainers were ready to rely on some $5 million in unanticipated debt payment savings to help balance the supplemental spending package.
Most of the bipartisan talks were taking place in various venues around the State House, frequently in a set of committee offices behind a door bearing a sign: “Legislators only. See clerk or check with fiscal office for admittance.”
House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, said the private nature of the talks could open lawmakers up to “some fair criticism” but added that “delicate political issues on top of policy issues” made such discussions useful.
Republican Rep. Sawin Millett of Waterford acknowledged “a very tenuous line” between holding a general discussion about the potential for compromise and taking actual action.
“We’re careful that we don’t violate either the spirit or the intent” of open meeting standards, Millett said.
On Jan. 19, Baldacci administration officials outlined a combined package of spending and savings worth $178 million that was designed to adjust planned expenditures over the last half of the two-year budget cycle.
At the time, lawmakers were counting on $164 million in new revenue.
More recently, that potential surplus was reduced by about $14 million, complicating calculations.
Earlier this month, Baldacci proposed $25 million in new borrowing to bolster funding for highway projects in Maine.
A gubernatorial task force pegged the immediate need for funding at $90 million and Baldacci said his proposal would be a first installment.
But this week, facing Republican resistance, Democrats signaled they could reluctantly scrap the bonding plan.
Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, said Monday the supplemental spending package was a basic effort to pay bills and maintain access to health care and education.
“This is not fancy stuff,” she told reporters.
A last sticking point was said to be whether to include in the budget or treat separately a Baldacci proposal for raising starting teacher salaries from the current statewide average of $27,000 to $30,000 a year.
The budget package includes $42 million for local schools, which would bring the state share of education costs to 50 percent at $914 million.
Deliberations continued as the Legislature moved into its final push for the 2006 regular session.
The statutory adjournment date for the House and Senate this year is April 19.
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