TABOR proposal a bad deal for Maine’s seniors
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Bangor Daily News: In Maine, we love our pie. Generations of Mainers have been comforted and soothed by pie of every sort — blueberry pie, pork pie, graham cracker pie, and of course, the whoopie pie. No matter how bad things get, Mainers know there will always be pie. However, in AARP’s view, Question 4 (TABOR II) poses a clear and present threat to Maine’s budgetary pie. On many counts, the proposal in Question 4 comes up short as sound public policy that serves seniors — and just about everyone else, for that matter.
TABOR II seeks to place rigid limits on local revenues and spending with a formula based on rates of inflation and general population growth. Each year, the formula would set an inflexible maximum expenditure level against which all state and local priorities must compete for funding. The problem is that the formula is divorced from real-time. It does not account for the costs of health care and other services that are increasing faster than the rate of inflation, nor does it account for expansion in existing programs prompted by demographic shifts or economic conditions. And this is precisely where we are in Maine right now. Between 2000 and 2030, Maine’s population of those over 65 is projected to more than double. Undoubtedly, this will mean a rise in the costs of maintaining current levels of health care and other services for a larger number of seniors. TABOR II, though, is structured so that no consideration is given to a program’s growth characteristics or expenditure patterns.
What, then, does TABOR II mean for seniors? Well, it is a safe bet that it would hit them hard. Maine’s growing senior population relies on adequately funded nursing homes, in-home care, meal delivery and other crucial services. But TABOR II would slowly starve these programs and create hardships for those who rely on them. The same goes for other budget priorities such as libraries, schools, public safety, pothole repair — pretty much the gamut of public services. They will all bump up against an imposed spending cap; they will all be pitted against one another; and they will all be left with crumbs of the pie.
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