As candidates campaign across the state this year, voters will hear some politicians claim state spending is out of control. What they may not hear are the real reasons for the spending increases, what it’s paying for, or where Maine stands compared to the rest of the country in terms of spending.
The truth is simple: after a period of disinvestment, Maine has chosen to invest more in education, health care, local communities, and services people rely on every day. Even with those increases, Maine is still middle-of-the-pack when it comes to government spending per person.
The question facing voters is not whether Maine’s budget has grown. It has. The real question is whether those investments are making Maine a stronger, healthier, and more prosperous place to live.
Maine remains a moderate-spending state
When compared to other states, Maine ranks near the national average for per capita state and local government spending, coming in 26th out of the 51 states and territories included in the latest Census Bureau rankings.
The breakdown in spending varies from state to state. Maine spends a bit more per person than other states on highways and assistance to neighbors (11th and 12th highest respectively) and less on education (39th lowest). The fact Maine is generally in line indicates claims of out-of-control spending are misplaced. Spending has increased substantially during the current administration, but it hasn’t put Maine out of step with the norm.
LePage administration cuts to state and local spending left some catching up to do
To pay for massive tax cuts that predominately went to the wealthiest individuals and corporations in 2011, then Governor Paul LePage made dramatic cuts to Maine’s safety net and state funding for local services. He also continued to underfund public education. This approach, while artificially lowering state spending, shifted costs onto towns. As a result, many communities increased property taxes to avoid huge cuts to local schools and police and fire protection.
LePage-era austerity measures also created a lag in recovery from the Great Recession compared to other states. Under LePage, Maine was one of the last states to recover all the jobs lost during the recession while more rural parts of the state experienced periods of economic decline longer than what they had encountered during the Great Depression. So, in addition to cutting spending and stripping away vital supports for people who had lost their jobs, the policies of the LePage administration undercut economic growth. These actions deprived Maine’s economy of the boost it needed to flourish and create more revenue.
Maine voters called for much of the increase in spending
The biggest increases in state spending over the last eight years have been in education and health care. Governor LePage refused to implement many voter-approved initiatives including the state’s statutory requirement to fund 55% of the cost of local education and expand MaineCare using mostly federal dollars so more Mainers could have access to life-saving medical care. Governor Mills changed course and implemented both important policies. These two initiatives alone cost around $250 million, but they’re somewhat offset by less pressure on property tax payers and a 90% payout from the federal government to cover the cost of MaineCare expansion enrollees. These measures were promises to Mainers passed at the ballot box and ignored for years that Governor Mills finally funded and implemented.
In addition to honoring the will of Maine voters, the most recent state budget also had to address cost shifts coming from Washington as President Trump and Congress shifted tens of millions of dollars to states. Decisions about how to handle these cuts and cost shifts still lie ahead for the next legislature and governor, but Maine has already seen major increases in its state budget due to cuts by Trump made to pay for massive tax cuts for wealthy people and corporations.
Rising costs impact state budgets too
Just as families have faced higher costs for groceries, housing, health care, and other necessities, state government faces higher costs as well.
The teachers, nurses, social workers, snowplow drivers, and other public employees who deliver services are not immune to inflation. Neither are schools, hospitals, or local governments.
Maine has not been isolated from the global cost increases, whether they originated with supply chain disruptions from the pandemic or recent increases in food and gas prices due to choices by the Trump administration. Health care costs have increased. General consumer prices have increased. Wages for public sector workers have gone up — albeit not as much as they should have to keep pace with the private market. As the state’s largest employer, state government has had to absorb these increased costs which the state budget pays for.
Additional new spending is helping to strengthen Maine’s economy and create new opportunities
Strong schools, accessible health care, safe roads, and thriving communities do not happen by accident. They require public investment. The current administration has sought to promote opportunity with new initiatives that have made community college free for Maine graduates, increased access to child care, expanded investments in affordable housing, and ensured children do not go hungry in school. The most recent supplemental budget alone increased funding for housing by over $70 million and made modest investments in direct care workforce pay. These investments are aimed at strengthening our economy from the bottom up and ensuring everyone has a chance at a good life.
Budget debates are ultimately debates about values
Maine’s budget growth is not a story of government growing for its own sake. It is a story of a state making investments in its people, it communities, and its future.
A correction in recent years has put Maine in the middle of the pack for state per capita spending. The increases have largely come from inflation and an artificial lowering of the baseline during the LePage years that did harm by both cutting programs people rely on and slowing our recovery from the great recession, all while blocking implementation of voter-approved initiatives.
Voters should expect an honest conversation about those choices — not just a focus on the size of the budget, but on what that budget delivers for Maine families and the long-term strength of the economy.
We’ve seen this playbook before. Politicians who foment anxiety over state spending are trying to build public support for cuts to education, health care, and food assistance for our neighbors in order to pay for tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy.
When we reject false scarcity and push back on fear tactics, we can build an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy elite.