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Maine's Land Debate Starting

March 11, 2009 - AUGUSTA -- A coalition of more than 200 groups will push this week for legislative support for bills to borrow money for the Land for Maine's Future Program.

And while Gov. John Baldacci included $18 million for the program in his $306 million bond package, program supporters say they will lobby for more.

The Maine Land Bond Coalition, which includes the Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Nature Conservancy, Maine Audubon, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and others, would like to see a bill sponsored by Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, win broad bipartisan support.

Diamond's bill, which has more than 80 co-sponsors, calls for the state to borrow $87.5 million for the program during four years. The bill proposes to ask for voter approval in November.

That's more than four times the size of what Baldacci proposed, and he wants to delay the vote until June 2010.

While the groups say they are grateful Baldacci included the money in his proposal, they say it will fall far short of what is needed. The program has committed all its funds, with nothing left for new projects, according to the program's annual report.

Tom Abello, a spokesman for the coalition who works for The Nature Conservancy, said the program needs at least $20 million a year.

"There's a lot of bipartisan support for the program," he said. "That's an encouraging piece to try to get that number as high as we can."

The Land for Maine's Future program, begun in 1987 with voter approval of $35 million in borrowing, has conserved nearly 500,000 acres of land in the state, according to the annual report. The program provides funding to protect farmlands, recreational areas, water access and working waterfronts.

Since 1987, voters have approved three additional bond requests totaling $79 million.

The current bond proposal put forward by Baldacci puts Land for Maine's Future in a cluster of bonds called "quality places." In addition to the $18 million for land conservation, there's $3 million for working waterfronts, and $2 million to establish an endangered community buildings fund.

Those requests, along with $17.4 million for wastewater and drinking water improvements, would go to voters in June 2010 under the governor's proposal.

In November this year, voters would be asked to approve $266 million for a number of projects, including transportation, education, energy, economic development and agriculture.

Ryan Low, commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, told members of the Appropriations Committee that the governor wants to use the state's bonding capacity as a way to continue to promote growth once federal stimulus money runs out.

While federal money will start to flow into the state within months, most of the bond proposals will go forward in 2010 and 2011, Low said.

"You end up with a three-year sustained investment in the state economy," he said.

The governor's announcement of his bond package starts the process of sorting out how much the state can afford to borrow and how that money should be used. Legislators have dozens of their own bond bills and the Appropriations Committee will begin public hearings on Tuesday to start the review process.

David Farmer, Baldacci's deputy chief of staff, said many groups will be disappointed they didn't get more money.

But Baldacci is trying to balance the state's needs, with a priority on creating jobs and workforce development, he said.

"We recognize the Maine economy depends on protecting the qualities of the state that makes us special," he said, noting that the $18 million amount is $1 million higher than what was approved by voters in 2007.

Republicans will play a key role in determining the level of funding in the bonds. Although they do not hold a majority in the Maine House or Senate, bonds require support of two-thirds of legislators, which gives Republicans a lot of power in negotiations.

Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jonathan Courtney, R-Springvale, said his party will focus on how much the state can responsibly borrow with an eye toward job creation.

"The people at home are hurting so bad, if you put a bond question on land and it isn't creating real jobs, it won't matter what we say up here," he said.

House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, said Land for Maine's Future protects existing jobs and helps create new ones because it supports the state's largest industry -- tourism.

"Many of the projects done by LMF help keep Maine a vibrant tourism state," she said. "The waterfront and the farmland portions are very directly tied to creating and saving jobs."

Rep. Pat Flood, R-Winthrop, is sponsoring his own bill that calls for the state to borrow $30 million over two years for the program. He said Baldacci is taking the right approach and has good reason for putting it on the June 2010 ballot.

"The way he's teed it up after road and university projects makes sense," he said. "I don't see LMF as high a priority as transportation, but I also think people of Maine are pretty tolerant and quite interested in maintaining a base of funding for acquiring special places."

Diamond said he submitted his bill to ensure that the needs of the program would be discussed.

But even he doesn't think $87.5 million is doable.

"If we can get higher than $18 (million), I'd be happy," he said.

Sunday March 8th, 2009

by Susan M. Cover, staff writer
Kennebec Journal news story


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