Maine voters have already spoken loud and clear on TABOR, two times, and it was defeated two times. Why don’t its proponents get the message?

Passage of TABOR II would prevent the state from building a “rainy day fund.” Over the four fiscal years since LD 1 was enacted, the state has consistently spent less in General Fund revenues than the state’s spending limit would allow. The “LD 1 Progress Report 2008,” authored by the State Planning Office, states that the spending allowance reserve built up by the state during the first four-year period was valued at $221 million.

The reserve, also called the “rainy day fund,” was tapped this year due to reduced revenues collected in this deep recession. Because TABOR II rewrites the rules the state has been working under and recalibrates the state’s spending allowance system, the reserve spending authority disappears. That would mean no “rainy day fund” to use in emergencies.

Furthermore, Maine’s towns currently are allowed to carry over any remaining funds from their previous year’s budget into a new budget. Under TABOR II, those funds would not be allowed to be carried into the new year, negating any town’s ability to build up a reserve fund.

Can you imagine not being able to set aside monies into a fund dedicated to buying, at some point in the future, a firetruck costing hundreds of thousands of dollars?

I hope the public will join me in voting “no” on Question 4.

Rep. Paul Gilbert, Jay