Today, Governor Mills announced that her administration has restored municipal revenue sharing to five percent for the first time since 2009. While state law has long required a five percent threshold for revenue sharing, under former Governor Paul LePage, the administration deliberately neglected that requirement and cut revenue sharing with municipalities to as low as 2% by the time he left office.
As governor, LePage forced through cuts to revenue sharing in order to help fund tax cuts, which disproportionately benefited wealthy Mainers. As a result, municipalities, including many rural communities, faced enormous budget difficulties and were forced to raise residents’ property taxes in order to fund basic services like law enforcement, EMS, and public schools. LePage actually attempted to go even further and eliminate revenue sharing altogether, which would have caused even more damage to municipalities and driven property taxes up even higher.
“By restoring full funding for revenue sharing, Governor Mills is providing vital relief for municipalities that were bled dry under eight years of Paul LePage,” said Misha Linnehan, spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party. “We can’t afford to go back to a governor who was happy to not just underfund local governments and the important services they provide—like police and fire—but also to drive up property taxes just so he could cut income tax rates for his wealthy friends.”