Gov. Baldacci Proposes Independent Commission for Maine's Budget

Last Friday, Governor John Baldacci announced his plan to deal with another 2-year budget gap of nearly $570 million.
Revised economic projections now predict that the government will have to trim costs from its $6.3 billion budget for 2008-2009 down to $5.8 billion for 2010-2011. Broad-based tax increases lack political support, so cutting spending is the only practical option, and the cuts are sure to be painful.
However, we at GrowSmart Maine see a tiny silver lining in all of this. As part of his proposal last Friday (