Progress Report on the Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places

Click here for a summary chart of our work in the State House this year. Or jump to a specific topic: Grassroots accomplishments Streamlining government Quality Places Economic Development Reducing Taxes Joint Standing Committee on Sustinable Prosperity

Last fall, the Brookings Institution and GrowSmart Maine provided Maine with an ambitious “Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity in Maine,” called ‘Charting Maine’s Future.’ Under the Action Plan, Maine would “cut to invest.” By streamlining and modernizing government and exporting some taxes to out-of-state visitors, our state could free up money for new initiatives that would grow our innovation economy, reduce taxes, and protect our quality places.

Governor Baldacci and the 123rd Maine Legislature took significant steps to implement the Action Plan over the course of the last 6 months.  There is still much work to be done.  The following progress report outlines the work accomplished thus far and GrowSmart Maine’s goals for the near future.

OUTSIDE THE STATE HOUSE…

When we released the report, “Charting Maine’s Future,” last fall, we hoped to build a network of people across the state who would work together for positive change.  As many of you know, GrowSmart Maine did a significant amount of work outside the State House this year to build this network, including:

• Hosted regional ‘town meetings’ in virtually every Senate district:  We worked with a group of local leaders in every Senate district to host 27 town meetings over the course of less than four months.  The meetings presented the major concepts from ‘Charting Maine’s Future’ and opened a conversation with Maine people to explore our future.  We thank all of our local planners, supporters and members and we’ll work to continue to visit communities all across the State for years to come as we work together toward sustainable prosperity.
• Did 115 presentations of ‘Charting Maine’s Future’ findings and recommendations to organizations, events and businesses all over the state.
• Helped to generate over 700 news articles, opinion pieces and letters.
• Tripled our network of interested citizens willing to help to about 5,000.

STREAMLINING GOVERNMENT

Charting Maine’s Future’ estimated that Maine’s state government could find $60 to $100 million in savings by modernizing its structure, streamlining administration, and bringing spending down to levels found in other rural states. The report suggested that an additional $25 million could be saved annually by streamlining and modernizing our K-12 administrative structure.

The Maine Legislature took a giant step toward this goal when it approved a plan to streamline Maine’s school administrative systems. This consolidation will reduce the number of school districts statewide from over 200 to 80 in an attempt to secure $36 million in savings.

‘Charting Maine’s Future’ advised that even greater savings could be found in state government, and the Action Plan recommended an independent “Maine Government Efficiency Commission” to propose cuts, after 18 months of working closely with the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) and other experts. This idea met with some resistance this session, but the concept has growing grassroots support.

The Legislature took some initial steps to streamline state government, including making some tough decisions as they developed a bipartisan budget. The state budget includes a provision for the Appropriations Committee to convene over the summer to trim an additional $10 million from the budget. 

PRESERVING & ENHANCING QUALITY PLACES: THE MAINE BRAND

In March, Governor Baldacci cited ‘Charting Maine’s Future’ in an executive order to create the Governor’s Council on Maine’s Quality of Place. Among other things, this Council will propose “investments that will ensure the long-term protection and enhancement of Maine’s quality places.” The Council will work over the summer and produce recommendations for the next Legislature.

The Legislature also approved significant investments in quality places in this year’s bond package. In November, voters will decide on a $17 million Land for Maine’s Future bond and a new $5 million bond for riverfront community development. The November bond question will also include $2 million for the “New Century Community Program” (which provides grants for community arts, humanities programs, and historic preservation) and $1.5 million for the Municipal Investment Trust Fund.  Additional bonds are also proposed to fund trails and state parks and historic sites.

Legislators also agreed to develop a plan to implement a building code program, which will help towns adopt Maine’s  model building codes and harmonize the conflicts between various codes. The long term impact of this program will be to simplify development in town centers and attract new investment into our communities.

Bills that would create a Community Planning Fund and increase the Historic Preservation Tax Credit are still pending; both have been held over until next year for further consideration.

GROWING MAINE’S INNOVATION ECONOMY

Governor Baldacci established a new Governor’s Council on Jobs, Innovation, and the Economy in December. The Council produced a report that influenced the Legislature’s approval of a two-year, $55 million bond for research and development. The bond will go to voters for final approval in November.

The Legislature embraced another ‘Charting Maine’s Future’ recommendation by budgeting $4 million over the next two years for Maine’s emerging economic “clusters” – groups of similar businesses that can benefit from organized marketing, research, job training, and recruitment.

Legislators also  made a significant policy decision in the passage of the bond package by ensuring that all R&D bond funds would be competitive, rather than ‘ear-marking’ funds for certain sectors or clusters.  This is a very positive step that will ensure that the most competitive ideas and products are supported.

These are great initial successes, and the next step will be to ensure that Maine sustains these investments over the long term, preferably by funding these investments with savings from a streamlined government- the ‘cut to invest’ strategy.  We will continue to build grassroots support for the innovation economy and investments in research and development.

REDUCING TAXES

‘Charting Maine’s Future’ put a high priority on reducing Maine’s high tax burden, which hinders economic development and jeopardizes Maine’s quality places.

A tax reform proposal that would have reduced the income tax and provided further property tax relief by broadening state sales taxes and exporting some of the tax burden to visitors and tourists failed in the Legislature at the end of the session. While the proposal was consistent with several recommendations of the report (e.g., by “exporting” more taxes), tax reform efforts moving forward should be linked to spending reductions and government efficiency.

The large property tax disparities between older towns & cities and surrounding communities- highlighted by Brookings- is a major sprawl driver and discourages investment in downtowns.  This issue was given little attention this session and was not included in the tax reform package.  We will continue to work on this and it will likely be part of our agenda for next year.

The Governor and others are still in discussions about how to proceed with tax reform, either in a special session or next year when the Legislature convenes.

PROSPERITY COMMITTEE TO CONVENE OVER NEXT 6 MONTHS

The Legislature also voted this session to create a Joint Select Committee on Prosperity, which will be meeting over the course of the Summer and Fall to explore recommendations from ‘Charting Maine’s Future’, as well as other reports.  This Committee will work closely with other appropriate committees to develop a plan and a long-term vision to move Maine toward sustainable prosperity. 

We will keep you informed as the Quality Places Council, the Prosperity Committee, and the Government Efficiency Commission work this summer and fall, and as we develop our own priorities for the next half of the session. 

Thanks for all of your support and participation this year. The response from Maine people, businesses, organizations and communities around the state has been phenomenal.  Please stay tuned as we continue to work together toward a prosperous future for all of us.