LePage: Take back liquor revenue, issue bonds
Gov. Paul LePage's payment plan to Maine's hospitals, which are owed $484 million in MaineCare reimbursements, hinges on the state taking back oversight of liquor distribution in the state.
In a press conference Tuesday, LePage announced that he has submitted emergency legislation that would allow the state to borrow $186 million to pay its share of the hospital debt through a revenue bond issued against the future projected earnings from liquor sales.
Moreover, LePage says the state's expectation of those earnings would also make him comfortable releasing $105 million in voter-approved bonds and $100 million in a revenue bond for a new prison in Windham, according to a press release.
LePage estimates that liquor sales proceeds, which the state outsourced in 2004 in a 10-year contract, will generate $30 million annually. LePage's push to return state oversight of liquor sales would change the expectation that the 10-year contract held by Maine Beverage Co. will be put back out to bid.
In September, legislators fought over a decision to use a request-for-proposals process to award a new contract and prospective bidders began to line up earlier that month for the contract that expires in 2014.
LePage said in a press release that he hopes the emergency legislation outlining his plan will be approved quickly and that he intends the state to pay its debt to Maine hospitals "within a matter of months."
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