LePage, Democrats agree on $150M bond package
Gov. Paul LePage and Democratic lawmakers have agreed on a $149.5 million bond package that includes $100 million in funding for improvements to Maine’s highways and bridges.
LePage announced the bipartisan agreement in a press release on Friday, citing the Legislature’s approval this spring of a plan to pay the state's outstanding $500 million Medicaid debt to hospitals as paving the way for the state “to responsibly borrow for necessary infrastructure projects.” In that plan, lawmakers agreed to borrow against revenue from the state's wholesale liquor contract to pay back about $184 million in Medicaid debt to the hospitals. That payment would trigger another nearly $300 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements.
Democratic and Republican legislative leaders issued written statements Friday confirming the bond package agreement.
The proposed bond package includes:
- Highway and bridges, $76 million.
- Multimodal improvements, $24 million.
- University of Maine System, $15.5 million.
- Maine Community College System, $15.5 million.
- Maine Maritime Academy, $4.5 million.
- Maine Armory maintenance and renovation, $14 million.
Total: $149.5 million.
The Portland Press Herald reported no funds for conservation or research and development were included in the proposed bond package.
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