State revenues continue slide
Budget shortfalls continue to frustrate lawmakers as they grapple with addressing a new $14 million hole on top of the $25 million transferred as a stop-gap measure to meet current budget needs.
The $39 million shortfall in this year's budget is above and beyond the $30 million deficit that legislators on the appropriations committee are instructed to resolve in the second year of the biennial budget, which began July 1, according to Capitol News Service. A new revenue forecast is scheduled in November, but several lawmakers expect the news will not be good. "When people ask me how big (the shortfall) will be, I just say, ‘Big,'" Rep. Emily Cain (D-Orono), House chairman of the committee, told the news service.
According to staff in Maine Revenue Services, the individual income tax, which is the largest source of state revenues, was below estimates in August, bringing the year-to-date shortfall to $11.3 million.
Read the full story in the Bangor Daily News >>
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