Details released on state budget
Gov. Paul LePage's administration provided more details Friday about a proposed $6.1 billion, two-year budget initially released Thursday.
The proposal exceeds the current $5.7 billion budget, in part because it includes about $180 million in funds given to cities and towns, which previous budgets did not include, according to MaineToday Media. It includes a number of changes to the state's retirement system, including requiring state workers and teachers to contribute an additional 2% of their salaries to the system, for a total of 9.65%. As LePage mentioned Thursday, it also allocates $22 million more to K-12 education in the first budget year and $41 million more in the second, totaling $925 million in the first year and $914 million in the second year, to offset the loss of federal stimulus funds. Also included is $730,000 to Good Will-Hinckley in Pittsfield to create a charter school for at-risk youth, a process that would require the Legislature to pass a law allowing charter schools in the state, according to the news service.
It also eliminates 81 state positions, 12 of which are currently filled, most of which are in the Fund for a Healthy Maine program under the Department of Health and Human Services.
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