AUGUSTA, Maine — Tuesday’s discovery of an extra $14.3 million in state revenue has thrown a wrench into the Legislature’s budget negotiations late in the session.
The co-chairmen of the Appropriations Committee — Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, and Rep. Patrick Flood, R-Winthrop — were expected to meet Wednesday with House and Senate leadership to discuss options.
The statutory adjournment date for the second session is Wednesday, April 18, but most lawmakers are preparing to finish work by Friday, April 13.
The Appropriations Committee has been meeting for the last several days to sort out pieces of Gov. Paul LePage’s $37 million supplemental budget proposal. Many items have been approved but the most controversial pieces are still up for debate.
Also outstanding is a second supplemental budget that needs to address an estimated $85 million to $90 million shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services budget for the 2013 fiscal year.
Lawmakers also are awaiting additional information from DHHS related to a computer problem that allowed 19,000 MaineCare enrollees to remain on the rolls even after they were ineligible. That mistake could result in Maine being forced to repay the federal government, which covers $2 of every $3 spent on MaineCare.
Most lawmakers are assuming that the DHHS supplemental budget No. 2 won’t be done by the end of next week.
However, the supplemental budget that deals with everything outside of DHHS could be voted out of committee.
“I think we’ll be able to get enough consensus to vote out a supplemental budget by next week,” Rosen said Wednesday. “We’ve already voted on some items and some other proposals could be held.”
Sen. Dawn Hill, D-York, agreed.
“We’re going to have to come back in May either way to deal with DHHS, but I think it’s important to deal with the other supplemental budget while we’re here,” she said.
LePage could be the wild card in the budget negotiations. The governor has not been pleased with the Appropriations Committee since he took office because it has rewritten most of his budgets.
His spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said Wednesday that the governor’s office has been involved in the budget discussions and acknowledged that things are up in the air.
One of the most controversial pieces in the supplemental budget is likely to be cuts to the state’s general assistance program.
Tuesday’s revenue revelation could be a blessing in disguise.
State Finance Commissioner Sawin Millett briefed the Appropriations Committee late Tuesday to disclose the Maine Revenue Services bookkeeping error that was discovered by his staff earlier this week.
The mistake resulted when a portion of a day’s receipts that were received in January were not processed by Maine Revenue Services. The $14.3 million in extra revenue was a mix of sales tax, corporate income tax and other tax revenue.
Millett called it a human error, not a systems error, and said he has taken steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, including conducting in-depth monthly reviews of revenue accounts.
Lawmakers were understanding of the problem and credited Millett for bringing it to them so quickly, but they acknowledged that it definitely puts some of their budget work on hold.
The state budget officer is expected to convene a special meeting of the Revenue Forecasting Committee after this month’s tax filing deadline to see if any adjustments need to be made.
Flood said Tuesday that the Appropriations Committee should wait at least until after that to make any firm decisions.
But those new revenue forecasting projections could bode well for lawmakers.
“If it turns out we have a shortfall that’s much smaller than we initially anticipated, that will make our jobs a little easier,” Hill said.
Rosen said if nothing else the Appropriations Committee will have more data to work with.
Follow BDN reporter Eric Russell on Twitter @BDNPolitics.
“LePage could be the wildcard in the budget negotiations. The governor has not been pleased with the Appropriations Committee since he took office because they have rewritten most of his budgets.”
Did he really expect that this committee would just roll over and do what he wanted, word for word? He acts like he is the only person who was elected to serve the state.
Actually he does. That’s what bullies do!!
HEY LOOK WHAT I FOUND! 14.3 Million Bucks! Man, does this LePage administration have a problem with numbers or what? Who’s running these numbers, Lauren? Brace yourself Mainers, this has only been the 1st year. Of course we can really help ourselves out in November by getting out the vote that this same administration has been doing everything it can (Unsuccessfully so far) to squelch before the upcoming election. Vote Democratic!
How do you just find $14 million? What kind of accounting system and controls does the state have – seems like they don’t really have any that function and now you have a person in charge of the DHHS 3500 employees and she can’t even count that high – is something wrong here? Nah – lets blame it on the previous administration – that always works:)
Well it’s certainly not the current administrations fault! I thank them for being the ones to discover it! AND to fix the disaster of the previous administration, DHHS. Lets not forget the Turnpike Authority either and how we should blame the LePage administration for that as well. W/e, you folks have it all wrong!..I still can’t get over that guy was considering the senate position! What nerve!
The LePage administration has run our government right off the rails. It’s a cabal of inept, arrogant, unprofessional ideologues with personal grudges. Does anyone out there think they’re going to improve? Please feel free to speak up if you do.
You forget that baldacci sold the train station and the tracks. So there are no rails to ride on.
Merely your opinion based on nothing but…well, hot air. Thanks for sharing.
No No, that was Jock that takes credit for that – remember:)
The Lepage Administration is the greatest improvement we’ve had in a LONG time!! I’m quite satisfied with the work they are doing. I thank them immensely!
You have to give Sawin credit for bringing it forward before this budget was voted on instead of after like Mayhew did. He did not try to hide anything.
so does the goose that laid the golden egg have to pay penalties and interest like we do?
What’s next for the budget process? Well, the legislators had already been working on the assumption this money wasn’t there. So, I’m sure they will use it to repay the money owed to hospitals, or to repay the debts owed the employee pension fund, or pay off some bonds and reduce Maine’s indebtedness….
Who am I kidding! They are going to SPEND it on Maine’s bloated programs.
Just curious, name ONE bloated fund and the FACTS on which you make that determination. Caution: LePage, Poliquin, C. Webster, Mayhew fiction doesn’t count.
can you say housing. i do believe she was almost governor.So much fun watching the dems squirm as their public money in private pockets schemes melt away.Go lepage.
MaineCare and TANF are two examples.
Benefits are higher than national average and, until the recent change in law, had no cap on benefits.
Maine State Housing, DEP, Turnpike Authority, Efficiency Maine, University system… all bloated.
Gotta love Sawin Millett. One month there’s a budget surplus, next month a shortfall, next month a shortfall but we found $14 million. Blink an eye, the numbers change. Wait a minute and they’ll change again. The sorry state of affairs that is the LePage administration is predicated on lies, distortions of the truth, and a whimsical game of smoke and mirrors as they go about pretending to govern. It would almost be funny except this group of miscreant malcontents would stop at nothing short of throwing 65,000 people under the health care bus in order to futher their regressive agenda handed to them lock, stock, and barrel by the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, and the Koch brothers. By the way, things DO NOT go better with Koch.
Thats because they keep finding money in the crevasses of Baldacci’s a**! He’s hidden our dollars everywhere! Or simply handed them away to someone else’s pocket…Or simply not paid the bills…
Well some democrat somewhere is not getting his payoffs.
I wonder how Jock is doing with that Student loan mess that has legal action pending? did you forget about this little Timmy
How in the HELL do you MISS $14.3 Million in a Day??? Don’t you think when you tallied up at the end of the day, a bell or light bulb or something would have gone off???? WOW! and anyone wonders WHY this State is in the shape it’s in….
Baldacci’s last two year budget was 5.8 billion and was balanced as required by law.
Paul Lepage’s current two year budget is 6.3 billion and he is still in the red.
OK So they found some money, this doesn’t means we have to spend it! Never has been a revenue problem, the State has a spending problem! Let’s use the $14.3 million to pay down some debt, or save it for next year!