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Maine Cities and Towns Bracing for Another Revenue Sharing Battle with Governor

AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine city and town administrators are anxious about Gov. Paul LePage's dissatisfaction with what he perceives as the rising costs of local government.

Democratic leaders predict LePage may attempt to balance the state budget by zeroing out municipal revenue sharing funds, just as he did two years ago.  In addition, the governor's opposition to the way some cities handle General Assistance requests could prompt them to cede control of the program to the state.

The estimated $150 million that flows to the state's municipal revenue sharing fund provides some relief to communities that are struggling to hold the line on property tax increases. Gov. Paul LePage attempted to zero those funds out of his budget two years ago, and during his inaugural speech Wednesday, the governor said he was unhappy with the way municipal governments are spending the money.

Now, some communities are bracing for another battle over municipal revenue sharing.

"When I was the mayor of Waterville, local control was important to me and I wanted the state to pay for it - just like every other local elected official in the state of Maine," LePage said. "Now I'm governor - it's expensive."

Although LePage did not specifically mention municipal revenue sharing or General Assistance, a program for the poor in which costs are divided between municipalities and the state, he did make it clear that he thinks some Maine cities and towns are failing to curb spending.

"The total spending on local government in the state of Maine in the last five years has increased by half a billion dollars, during the worst recession since the Great Depression," said LePage. "How can that be? How can that be? Where's the money going?"

"I don't know what his source was for that information," says Geoff Herman, of the Maine Municipal Association. "I'm not sure what spending on local government means, but I do know what spending by local governments has been."

At the Municipal Association, Herman oversees the agency's state and federal relations, and he says he's having a hard time verifying LePage's math on municipal spending.

"On the municipal side of the equation, there's been very limited, if any, increase in spending over that five-year period," Herman says. "It's almost entirely flat, a very significant reduction in general administration spending over that period. So municipal government has, essentially, been flat-funded over five years. So I'm not quite sure I buy that premise."

During his inaugural speech, LePage made references to the need for Maine cities and towns to collaborate on the costs of municipal services. He suggested they turn to a county model used by other states to cover those expenses.

Herman says Maine municipalities are already collaborating on numerous services, ranging from emergency medical services to solid waste disposal. Given LePage's opposition to the way some communities are opening their General Assistance programs to refugees and asylum seekers, Herman says some towns might be just as happy to let the state assume control over the entire program.

"General Assistance is entirely another question," he says. "In fact, the Maine Municipal Association is putting forward the whole program over to the state. It's apparent that we're not able to operate it correctly, from at least somebody's point of view."

Some Republican legislators, such as Rep. Dick Campbell of Orrington, say they understand the governor's frustration over rising costs. But he also says local control is a time-honored institution in most Maine towns.

"I think it's important that we get back to local control," Campbell says. "I think the money is better managed there, the services are better provided there, so local control is important."

House Speaker Mark Eves says that when the governor's budget is released Friday, town councils and city managers should expect the worst.

"Yes the towns and cities should be worried, every property tax owner in the state should be worried," Eves says.

The governor is scheduled to brief the media on the state budget Friday afternoon.