AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills outlined the major parts of a $100 million spending plan in a written address released Tuesday that urged long-term fiscal caution and teased reforms to two embattled state systems serving vulnerable children.
Mills delivered the first part of her State of the State address in the morning ahead of her 7 p.m. speech to a joint session of the Maine Legislature. That is likely to gain more attention, because the governor has said it will be devoted to the “immediate crises” facing the state, including responses to the Lewiston mass shooting and recent major storms.
Her 11-page written address was focused on the nuts and bolts of state government. Since Mills was elected in 2018, Maine and other states have had strong budget surpluses that persisted with a pandemic-era wave of federal aid. It has allowed Mills and her fellow Democrats in charge of the Legislature to raise spending sharply while building reserves to record highs.
But the governor also has been more restrained in spending than other members of her party. She nodded to revenue shortfalls in states, including Massachusetts, California and New York, as cautionary tales while she noted that Maine is expected to see $265 million in higher than expected revenue by the middle of 2025.
“That sounds like a lot of money, but, like Maine families, we have to look to the future to know what our revenues will be and to plan for the bills that are due in the months and years ahead.” she wrote.
She outlined the majority of her proposed spending package, saying she will ask lawmakers to approve $22.6 million more for K-12 education, $16 million for homeless and warming shelters, $10 million to construct 130 units of affordable housing and $4 million to expand addiction treatment in jails, among other items.
Bigger changes could be in store for Maine’s child welfare system and another long-embattled program that provides early educational services to young children with disabilities.
The state had the highest child maltreatment rate in the nation last year. It is also the only state to use a quasi-governmental organization — Child Development Services — to provide early childhood services that kids have had to wait for or go without for years. Mills said the Maine Department of Education will release a plan to reform that system.
As for child welfare, Mills said her administration will be proposing a targeted list of new positions to help caseworkers while kicking off a recruiting effort focused on retirees and others not currently in the workforce. The state would also look at paying caseworkers more by reclassifying their jobs, she said.
“Every one of us cares deeply about children, and we need to pursue every smart strategy we can to improve the health and safety of all children,” she said.
