AUGUSTA — Maine’s new, two-year, $6.1 billion budget includes a proposal to reorganize and shrink the State Planning Office, a measure supported by Gov. Paul LePage.

On Tuesday, a special group went to work on fulfilling that mandate, which will be folded into legislation at the end of the year. LePage, who originally proposed eliminating the office, believes restructuring the agency and moving its functions elsewhere will reduce the cost and size of state government.

But critics of the plan aren’t so sure. On Tuesday, some warned that the political expediency of realigning the State Planning Office’s 10 sub agencies could jeopardize federal funding and the department’s long-term mission.

Pete Didisheim of the Natural Resources Council of Maine urged the committee to ensure that it wasn’t “just moving people and boxes around” in an effort that could end up increasing costs.

Didisheim highlighted a 2010 study that was presented to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee in November. That report was born from the state’s last two-year budget adopted by the Democratic Legislature and Gov. John Baldacci.

The study acknowledged that there are ways to restructure the State Planning Office. However, it found that doing so would in some cases increase state expenditures and decrease efficiency.

Livermore Falls resident Darryl Brown is heading the restructuring. He too acknowledged that the board had been charged with an “aggressive” and challenging task.

“But we’re ready to do it,” he said. “We’re ready to get it done.”

The office was created in 1968. Its main function is to analyze the state’s fiscal health and organize long-term planning projects designed to improve the economic outlook. It has also become a resource to individual communities that rely on its statewide analyses for local planning efforts.

Within the department are several other agencies, including the Office of Energy Independence & Security, the Maine Commission for Community Service, Land Use Planning, Waste Management & Recycling and the Land for Maine’s Future.

The SPO’s ranging tasks have made it the frequent subject of consolidation discussions, and not only by Republicans. During the 2010 gubernatorial race, Democrat Libby Mitchell proposed merging the office with the Department of Economic and Community Development to focus on job creation and business development.

But unlike recent discussions, it appears a new political will in Augusta has the SPO poised for a major overhaul.

Earlier this year, LePage submitted language in his budget proposal that would have effectively eliminated the SPO’s creation statute. The Legislature ultimately held off that proposal by creating the working group. 

However, the working group has been charged with an aggressive mandate to make significant changes to the structure of the SPO. Legislation changing the department must be submitted by December.

Additionally, it appears the governor is determined to advance big changes. On Tuesday, LePage staffer Jonathan Nass told the panel that the governor wanted a thorough examination of each agency and a focus on efficiencies and “smaller government.”

William Beardsley, LePage’s commissioner of the Department of Conservation, also appears determined to lead the overhaul. While Beardsley wasn’t present Tuesday, he sent a detailed memo describing his vision for the SPO.

Along with his restructuring recommendations, Beardsley provided an “issue paper” in which he described agencies like SPO as creating “highly centralized, top down, socialist, rather than decentralized, economic growth state planning cultures.”

Brown said that among the panel’s toughest challenges will be making sure the restructuring doesn’t jeopardize department funding.

The State Planning Office currently receives close to $2 million — about 23 percent of its operating costs — from the General Fund. The majority of its funding, about 50 percent, comes from federal money, while the remaining 27 percent comes from other revenues.

The department has also seen significant staff reductions and unfilled positions over recent years.

Brown told the panel Tuesday that he hoped to have a preliminary set of realignment plans by late August.

smistler@sunjournal.com

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