AUGUSTA, Maine – Republican lawmakers are sharply criticizing the Mills administration after Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner Dale Doughty informed Gov. Janet Mills that the state may need to cut roughly $400 million in road and bridge projects over the next three years, a move Republicans say exposes years of poor budgeting and misplaced priorities in Augusta.
The warning sent shockwaves through Maine’s construction and transportation industries after details of the looming cuts became public last week. Republicans said the development was not unexpected, pointing to an April letter from Transportation Committee Commissioner Dale Doughty that outlined growing funding concerns within the state’s Highway Fund.
In that April 16 letter, sent the day after the Legislature’s statutory adjournment, Doughty detailed measures MaineDOT was considering in response to a $130 million structural funding gap that had not been resolved in the supplemental budget. According to the letter, the proposal would cut $65 million in state spending, which, when combined with the loss of federal matching funds, would result in approximately $182 million in lost transportation investment.
By May 18, however, the projected shortfall had grown dramatically. In a memo sent to Gov. Mills, the administration warned the figure could rise to $400 million.
Republicans argue the funding crisis comes despite lawmakers approving a major budget package that included only an additional $13 million for the Department of Transportation from the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund. At the same time, the budget allocated roughly $155 million toward “affordability checks” for eligible Mainers as part of a nearly $300 million withdrawal from the Rainy Day Fund.
For Republicans, the contrast underscores what they describe as a failure by Democratic leadership to prioritize core infrastructure needs.
“Mainers have every right to ask how we arrived at a transportation funding crisis after years of unprecedented spending and tax increases,” said House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor. “Families were told they needed to pay more. Seniors were told they needed to sacrifice more. Working people were asked to shoulder higher costs. Yet now we’re being told the state cannot afford to maintain critical roads and bridges.”
Assistant Senate Republican Leader Matthew Harrington, R-York, said taxpayers are paying more while seeing fewer results.
“Legislative Democrats claimed their higher taxes were supposed to solve funding problems,” Harrington said. “Instead, we’re seeing delayed road projects, growing program shortfalls and increasing demands on taxpayers.”
Assistant House Republican Leader Katrina Smith, R-Palermo, argued the situation reflects deeper problems within the administration’s fiscal planning.
“Just months ago, Mainers were assured the state’s finances were strong,” Smith said. “Now we are learning that major infrastructure projects are being delayed because the money isn’t there. That’s not just a funding problem. It’s a planning problem.”
Republicans also pointed to past legislative efforts to stabilize transportation funding. In 2023, lawmakers approved LD 259, legislation originally proposed by Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Somerset, which created a dedicated funding source for the Highway Fund.
Farrin said lawmakers had already identified and addressed a smaller transportation deficit earlier this year, but accused the administration of choosing political spending over long-term infrastructure investment.
“In April, the Highway Fund had a $13 million deficit we were able to address in the supplemental budget,” Farrin said. “If the administration really cares about addressing this shortfall, the solution is simple. Instead of sending out $300 election-year checks to certain eligible residents, that money should be used to provide the critical support needed for our state’s transportation infrastructure.”
Farrin warned the consequences could extend far beyond delayed roadwork.
“This shortfall doesn’t just put our state’s infrastructure at risk,” he said. “It means thousands of jobs could be lost and contractors’ investments in materials could be wasted.”
The dispute adds to growing concerns over the long-term sustainability of Maine’s transportation funding as construction costs continue to rise and lawmakers face mounting pressure over state spending priorities.
That’s Fuzzy Math for you!
I could be wrong it’s probably more like graduates of DEI from the Learing school.
Mills and Company crying poverty. How about using the 600 million dollars collected through excise taxes, registration fees, sale taxes on vehicles and gasoline exclusively for road infrastructure.
That’s odd, the dems raised my taxes 3 times last year. Its a mystery.
All democrats in the state house have to go, for good. Dems need to think for themselves instead of being told how to vote. GRRR..
Screw the roads. Mills’ “new Mainers” need more $$$$$
Just another example of why democrats need to be thrown out of any control over this state.
Maine’s Public Sector Union Workers need a new contract before November. That’s where OUR money is going. Democrats planned this early this year. Total crooks.
It is so frustrating to me that Gov. Mills wasted millions on pet projects that added very little value to the state while allowing basic infrastructure to fail.
This is why, as someone socially liberal, I can’t vote Democrat anymore. Fiscal issues will always come first, and wasting taxpayer money on vanity while failing to fund the one thing government does most efficiently (infrastructure) is a sign of incompetence and ideological blindness at the highest level.
Instead of raiding Rainy Day Fund to buy votes, Mills should have used money for governments primary purpose: Fixing the Roads!!
Chickens love to pick out lobster shells, and it turns the yolk a lovely shade of orange.
So all of those highway bond issues were spent somewhere else / Who knew
Just a precursor to raise our taxes again before she leaves office
Don’t worry, the Nazi Womanizer Oyster Poacher is also a crack economist.
“HE’S OUR MAN”
“Maine democrat/communists”
Bullcrap! It’s a spending problem! Where you spend money for crap , Democrats, is waste and fraud. Somali fraud schemes, homeless people not helped, overpaid government “workers” are just a few of my favorite things.
Abdikeyr Mohamud, Is just another Democratic voter here in Maine. Thank you, Joe Biden, A King, Pingree, J Milles, and all my local reps and senators here in Maine who run under the Democratic party lable.
Mills doesn’t hesitate on spending money on lawyers fighting President Trump, and the Federal Government. Meanwhile where I live, people have to drive in the middle of the roads to avoid potholes, many more than 12” deep.
So the Democrats in this mismanaged state would rather take money for road and bridge repair and give it to illegals for free housing and health care. That is what they think of our safety. I think we need to do whatever we can to drive the illegals out of our local communities.