Gov. Paul LePage is proposing to use $7 million of the state’s General Fund surplus to help the Maine Military Authority in Limestone complete its bus rehab contract with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority that was halted last September when it became clear the job was underbid.
The Bangor Daily News reported that Brig. Gen. Douglas Farnham, commissioner of the Maine Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, told the Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee the funding would enable the authority to complete its $19 million contract to refurbish 32 MBTA buses.
Farnham told the committee that LePage’s budget request would enable the authority to rehire laid-off workers and complete a renegotiated MBTA contract.
In October 35 workers were laid off at the Limestone repair facility, about half of the workforce, following the halt of the MBTA contract the previous month.
