Budget shortfall approaching $600M
Maine lawmakers, under pressure to pass a two-year state budget by early May, now face a nearly $600 million shortfall.
Citing reduced tax collections due to the recession, Ryan Low, commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Affairs, said Friday that the budget hole will range from $560 million to $590 million when a state panel officially lowers revenue projections this week, the Portland Press Herald reported. Low estimated that $100 million of the gap is for the current fiscal year ending June 30, and the remaining $460 million-plus is for the two-year budget cycle beginning July 1, exceeding a previous estimate of $340 million.
The state's revenue forecasting panel, which will meet Tuesday before briefing legislators, could adjust those figures, the Bangor Daily News reported. Low said the current fiscal year's shortfall could be addressed by tapping the state's $75 million "rainy day" fund and using one-time federal economic stimulus funds, according to the paper.
Baldacci had proposed a $6.1 billion, two-year budget that would eliminate more than 300 jobs but avoid increasing the state's income or sales taxes.
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