Next, we’re being asked to borrow $12 million for loans and loan guarantees for small businesses through the Finance Authority of Maine. FAME already has $28 million in reserves to back these programs, so there’s no pressing need for us to go further in debt to allow start-up companies to go further in debt. As for interest, it’ll come to as much as $3 million over the next decade.
For a mere $10-million bond, voters can, according to state officials, “make the state a global leader in genomic medicine.” Apparently, that means studying genes to find cures for diseases. The way we do this is to give all that money to the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor for a new facility. In return, Jackson promises…er…well, it doesn’t exactly promise anything, such as new jobs or free flu shots. One thing we can count on, though, is that we’ll have to pay over $2 million in interest.
There’s also a $3-million bond for a biotechnology lab and a $7-million package for increasing lobster processing capacity, both of which seem like the sorts of operations the private sector is supposed to handle. And while free enterprise is at it, it can pay the $2.5 million in interest, too.
And there’s a proposal to borrow $10 million for improving water quality and restoring wetlands. I’m all for those, but if we included this work in the regular state budget, we’d save about $1.3 million in interest, which would make that clean water taste much better. Also, if we don’t restore wetlands, there might not be as many mosquitoes for that lab we’re not going to build to study.
Be frugal on Nov. 4. Vote “no” a lot.
To sign up for that free beer the state will be buying us, email me ataldiamon@herniahill.net.
