To the delight of lawmakers and the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), the state's highway budget will now have reliable and sustainable funding.
Gov. Janet Mills signed the budget into law June 16 after it passed through the state's House and Senate with overwhelming support earlier in the week.
News Center Maine in Portland reported that the budget bill gained the needed votes after Republican lawmakers worked with the Mills administration on a compromise and a key amendment was drafted by Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston.
"The safety, economic opportunity and quality of life of every Maine person just took a big step forward today," said MaineDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note shortly after the bill's signing.
He added that securing the highway funding had been in the works since he became MaineDOT's top official almost 20 years ago.
Forty percent of Maine's 5.5 percent sales tax on motor vehicle purchases will go toward funding the new budget, coupled with another 40 percent of sales and use taxes from the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). In total, those monies are expected to be $100M annually.
Mills also told reporters the new highway budget will allow the state to secure nearly $1 billion from federal sources.
Budget Passed Before July 1 Deadline
Legislators from both sides of the aisle stood behind the governor as she inked the budget. Many of them described the compromise deal as "historic."
"It's been a real collaborative effort and that's what you need when you're going to do these big things," said Rep. Wayne Parry, R-Arundel, the Maine House's ranking member of the Legislature's Transportation Committee.
He said using taxes from vehicle purchases and the BMV to fund transportation projects makes perfect sense.
While Mills and her administration have made a push to repair hundreds of bridges and thousands of miles of roads across Maine, the budget also will fund other sectors of the industry like bus and ferry services, airports and maritime ports.
Its signing also came just days before a July 1 deadline that would have paused some projects around the state.
State Sen. Ben Chipman, D-Cumberland, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said the funding from the new budget signing will provide certainty to MaineDOT and BMV employees that their projects can move forward.
"[This is the] largest transportation budget in the history of Maine," he added. "We'll be able to do lots of great work over the next few years as a result."
His colleague, Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Somerset, explained that the budget will allow the state to do "full-depth reconstruction and start really building back our roads."
While there was certainly a moment of celebration among Maine lawmakers over the law, Farrin, Chipman and other lawmakers told News Center Maine that it is a good step forward, but more work needs to be done to secure even more long-term transportation funding.
Every year, MaineDOT creates a three-year plan and, in years past, Van Note said it was difficult to budget for projects due to not knowing if money would be available.
"And for the first time we're going to have something we can rely on," he added.
According to the MaineDOT, the current plan includes 302 bridge projects, 1,178 mi. of preservation paving, more than 2,000 mi. of light capital paving, 271 mi. of highway construction and rehabilitation, and 264 highway safety and spot improvements.
Farrin said the state has $265M in unmet transportation needs and future legislative work will need to continue to cover those costs and complete all the state's proposed projects.
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