Nonprofits pay the price over LePage decision
Some nonprofits in Maine have been left with more debt because of a decision made by Gov. Paul LePage in 2011, and he hasn't indicated if he will ever change his mind. But if there are any certainties in life, it's that buying a park in Portland has become a lot more difficult.
Nonprofits pay the price
It's been three years since LePage decided to effectively discontinue a bond program for nonprofits that has left such companies with fewer financing options. The Sun Journal reported that Maine's governor has not budged since he first refused to sign a pool bond package in 2011, preventing health care and education-based nonprofits from having access to low-interest bonds from the Maine Health and Higher Education Facilities Authority. MaineGeneral Medical Center, for instance, is expected to spend an extra $42 million on a loan to build a 192-bed hospital in Augusta. LePage has said he refused to sign the bond package because it should require voters' approval and that he's concerned how a nonprofit's failure to pay back a loan could impact Maine's credit rating. But a former head of the authority said not one loan has ever defaulted.
Get your hands off my parks
The city of Portland's efforts to sell Congress Square Park hit a major roadblock in early June after voters approved a new ballot measure that gives extra protections to city-owned properties. The recently approved measure now requires the Portland City Council to reach an 8-1 vote in order to sell or convey 60 city-owned properties that belong to the city's Land Bank. If a sales or conveyance proposal receives a smaller majority vote, it would have to be approved by voters in a citywide referendum. The new rules essentially block the Portland City Council's 6-3 vote last September to sell 9,500 square feet of Congress Square Park for almost $524,000 to the developer that renovated an adjacent hotel, the Bangor Daily News reported. The developer has been hoping to convert the park into an events center, but the ballot's approval means the proposed sale will now have to face a citywide referendum.
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