Now that the state budget has been passed by the Legislature, Gov. Janet Mills says she will wait until next month to make any additional spending proposals or allocations of federal American Rescue Plan funds.
Mills says she expects the state revenue forecasting committee to project state revenues upward in its May 1 report, and that the U.S. Treasury will have issued guidance on how federal funds from the Rescue Act can be used.
“Programs that might ordinarily be asking for more money from the general fund during the ordinary budget negotiations, that may well not be necessary because of the influx of these funds,” she says.
Mills says she will not propose that the one-time federal funds be used to pay for any ongoing programs.
“American Rescue Plan funds are sort of a one-shot deal. They are not intended to be long term. I don’t propose to use those funds to fund ongoing, long-term programs,” she says.
Mills says the federal act will pump billions of dollars into the state, but much of it will be directly sent to medical care providers, schools, local governments and to pay for the massive vaccination effort that is now underway.
