Task force nixes consolidation plan
A task force assigned with restructuring Maine's natural resources agencies in the face of a $500 million budget shortfall disbanded Monday without a consolidation plan to submit to the Legislature.
The Natural Resources Agency Task Force, however, will this month complete a 30-page report that recommends against implementing Gov. John Baldacci's proposal to consolidate the departments of Agriculture, Conservation, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Marine Resources, The Times Record reported. Members of the task force worried that some agencies' operations would be lost or diminished through consolidation. Still, each agency and Baldacci's office will draft legislation for the upcoming session, which begins Jan. 7.
The 37-member task force included natural resources officials and the commissioners of all four agencies, which make up about 2.3% of the total state budget.
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