AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s next governor and crop of legislators would get historic raises under a change approved by a key panel of lawmakers on Wednesday.
The Legislature’s budget committee endorsed measures that would raise the governor’s annual salary from $70,000 to $125,000 and raise legislative salaries from $25,000 to $45,000 over their two-year terms. The last gubernatorial salary raise was in 1987, and it was 1999 for lawmakers.
The changes face final votes in the Legislature before being included in a recently enacted budget deal. Gov. Janet Mills will not benefit from the gubernatorial change, because it will take effect after the Democrat is barred by term limits from running in the 2026 election. The shift for legislators would effect after the next Legislature is seated in late 2024.
These changes have been perennially proposed, usually by veteran lawmakers who argue they will improve the quality of candidates for state office. Maine’s gubernatorial salary has gained attention for being the lowest in the country, though they also benefit from an unaudited expense account of $30,000 that effectively adds to their compensation.
That fund would rise to $40,000 under the salary bill from Rep. Bill Bridgeo, D-Augusta, a longtime city manager who teamed up with veteran Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, who has served as department commissioner under four governors, to champion the change.
“I think this is an adjustment that is long overdue,” Millett said in a budget panel hearing late Thursday.
The change for lawmakers, which was sponsored by Rep. David Woodsome, R-North Waterboro, would cost nearly $1.7 million per year when it takes effect at the end of 2024. One former lawmaker testified that she spent roughly $14,000 on child care in the last year that she served, roughly equaling her salary that year.
“I want people from all walks of life to be able to serve in office,” former Rep. Genevieve McDonald, D-Stonington, said in written testimony.
