Maine voters pass $105M transportation bond; Portland mayor unseated
File Photo/Courtesy Maine Department of Transportation
Maine Department of Transportation workers replace a guardrail in Sidney last summer. Work like this will be financed with a $105 million bond approved by Maine voters Tuesday.
As many expected, Maine voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved state bond that will provide $105 million for a variety of road construction projects and other transportation infrastructure improvements.
With two-thirds of precincts reporting late Tuesday, a referendum on the bond appeared to head toward passage, 68,125 to 22,041, a ratio of over 3-1.
As of Wednesday morning, official results had not yet been released.
The biggest chunk of the general obligation bond, $85 million, will go to construct and rehabilitate state highways classified as Priority 1, 2 and 3, and to replace and rehabilitate bridges. The bond will also be used to upgrade ports, improve air and rail transportation, repair culverts, and renovate a wharf at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland for commercial fishing and marine science vessels.
The money will be matched by an estimated $137 million in federal and other funds, according to Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap.
The bond is the 10th transportation-related one approved by Maine voters in a dozen years, according to Ballotpedia, resulting in close to $780 million in debt issued. Out of a total of 38 bond issues that were on the ballot between Jan. 1, 2007, and Jan. 1, 2019, voters approved all but one.
The bond was one of three proposed by Gov. Janet Mills in August, but the only one to receive a go-ahead from the state Legislature.
In other election results, Kate Snyder, a former school board chair in Portland, unseated the city’s incumbent mayor, Ethan Strimling. Snyder outpaced Strimling and two other challengers in all three rounds of ranked-choice vote tabulation, until emerging as the victor with 62% of the vote to City Councilor Spencer Thibodeau’s tally of 38%.
In Lewiston, Mark Cayer won election as mayor, defeating Tim Lajoie by a vote of 3,237 to 2,521. Both are former law enforcement professionals and former city councilors. Charles Soule received 169 votes, and incumbent Kristen S. Cloutier did not run for election.
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