Gov. Janet Mills on Friday unveiled her two-year budget proposal, which her administration says will require tightening purse strings to cover a budget gap.
The governor’s biennial, $11.6 billion budget is a 10 percent increase from the current budget.
Gov. Mills said a top priority in her budget is the health and safety of Mainers.
The budget invests $6 million in the state’s free school meal program. The program also applies to publicly-funded students in private school.
It also fulfills the state’s commitment to fund 55% of education costs.
The budget also calls for an increase in the cigarette excise tax from $2 to $3 a pack. The governor says Maine has the highest adult smoking rate and the second highest youth smoking rate in New England, and the state hasn’t increased the cigarette excise tax in twenty years.
Maine Republicans say that, despite warnings from the Mills administration about a drop in revenue and a tighter fiscal environment, the budget calls for more spending overall.
Republican House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham says the budget proposal adds 250 new state positions, when it should be reducing the size of government.
