THE MAINE HERITAGE POLICY CENTER PRESENTS 2012 M AINE PIGLET BOOK THE BOOK AUGUSta DOESN‘T WANT YOU TO REad About The Maine Heritage Policy Center The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a research and educational organization whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise; limited, constitutional government; individual freedom; and traditional American values–all for the purpose of providing public policy solutions that benefit the people of Maine. MHPC’s staff pursues this mission by undertaking accurate and timely research and marketing these findings to its primary audience: the Maine Legislature, nonpartisan Legislative staff, the executive branch, the state’s media, and the broad policy community. MHPC’s products include publications, articles, conferences, and policy briefings. Governed by an independent Board of Directors, The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization. MHPC relies on the generous support from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and does not accept government funds or perform contract work. © 2012 The Maine Heritage Policy Center, All rights reserved. Sources, unless otherwise noted,are from MaineOpenGov.org – 1 – Introduction Three years ago, The Maine Heritage takes waste and fraud to a whole new and our unfunded public pension debt Policy Center released The 2009 Maine level. situation has improved—thanks to a Piglet Book, highlighting more than new administration focused on saving tax $2 billion in gluttonous government The Maine Heritage Policy Center played dollars. But there is still a long way to go. waste, shocking examples of fraud and a major part in identifying and stopping disgraceful abuse of your tax dollars. The the rampant abuse of tax dollars at the We are confident that Maine’s economy squeals from Augusta echoed across the Maine Turnpike Authority. Then MHPC will turn around with less spending state. led the way in exposing the failures of and lower taxes. The 2012 Piglet Book management at the Maine State Housing identifies some key areas in which Maine Back then, the taxpayers of Maine were Authority, where millions of tax dollars state government can save more of your rightly upset that our government’s have been misused and mismanaged. hard-earned tax dollars. porcine spending problem included These quasi-governmental agencies had millions in overpayments to state their snouts deep in the public trough, employees and welfare for politicians, and you paid the bill. hundreds of thousands to pet projects and tens of thousands of tax dollars for The 2012 Piglet Book roots out some paintings of dogs in a rest stop. of the inappropriate spending that went on for years at MaineHousing and the Little did we know that the waste and Turnpike, as well as other examples of abuse discovered in the following days how state government is wasting your would overshadow some of even the hard-earned tax dollars. most outrageous spending detailed in the 2009 Piglet Book. In this year’s edition, we We must note that there have been highlight new government boondoggles some improvements since 2010. Maine and expose pork-barrel spending that now spends less on government salaries, – 2 – Maine’s Spending Spree Even though Maine is a relatively small state, with approximately 1.3 million residents, it sure can tax and spend. Before getting into the details of the spending problems, the following numbers illustrate just how much Augusta spent in F Y 2011: $7,595,151,209 PER YEAR $632,929,267 PER MONTH $20,808,633 PER DAY $867,027 PER HOUR $14,450 PER MINUTE $240 PER SECOND $5,718 PER PERSON $13,781 PER HOUSEHOLD So, if the state can spend $14,450 per minute and the median household income is $46,993, it follows that Maine government can spend what a household makes in an entire year in just over 3 minutes. Sources: Maine Office of Fiscal and Program Review. www.maine.gov/legis/ofpr/total_state_ budget/history/allfunds_history.html | 2.35 people per household according to the U.S. Depart- ment of Commerce’s Census Bureau. – 3 – Stupendous Stipends Often times in state government, stipends are awarded to Jon Schlenker, a Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at employees. There could be several reasons for the stipend, the University of Maine at Augusta was the top dog in 2011, but typically it would be a small amount given as an incentive receiving a staggering $84,115 in total “stipends.” That nearly bonus, award or as Webster’s dictionary says – “to defray matches his entire regular salary of $89,770 in 2011. expenses.” 128 additional UMaine employees received more than For Maine state government in 2011, stipends were not $20,000 in “stipends” in 2011, and 25 of those raked in more handed out in very large amounts. In fact, the largest stipend than $40,000 in just one year for stipends. for the year was $8,219, given to a Police Lieutenant. Many of the stipends that exceeded $5,000 were given to members When’s the last time you got a “stipend” at work? And was of the Police Force, perhaps for some kind of hazard pay or it for $80,000? What’s going on UMaine – are they getting performance bonus. around “pay freezes” with stipends? For the University of Maine system, however, “stipends” One thing we know for sure is that when “base salary” is have taken on a whole new meaning. As we’ve learned from reported for a UMaine employee – it might not tell the whole previous sections regarding Higher Education spending, they story. have a hard time keeping their checkbook under control. In 2011 alone, the University of Maine system paid out more than $10,000,000 in “stipends” to their employees. While it’s unclear exactly what these were for, we know that several employees got big bucks sent their way under the heading of a “stipend.” – 4 – State Employee Compensation Since September 24, 2008 MaineOpenGov.org has been state employees, and that’s not even counting K-12 school making it easy for taxpayers to track government spending. or Higher Education payroll. Maine spends more than $700 Some of the most substantial spending in Maine state million a year on payroll, just for the Executive and Judicial government is on state employee compensation. In fact, in branch. 2011, Maine spent more than $741,628,000 on total payroll for The good news? That number is actually down from a high of $786,000,000 just a few years ago in 2008. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maine’s median household income is about $47,000, but many state employees are blowing that number out of the water. In 2011, there were 1,961 state employees who took home more than $75,000 in total compensation and a whopping 345 employees who pocketed more than $100,000 for the year. Fortunately, the current administration has tried to bring these numbers more in line with what Mainers in the private sector earn. As recently as 2009, those numbers were much higher at 2,169 and 435. EXECUTIVE BRANCH The executive branch of Maine state government is home to many of the state’s highest paid employees. Not surprisingly, nine of the top 10 highest salaries in the executive branch can – 5 – be found at the Department of Health and Human Services JUDICIAL BRANCH (DHHS), a department where a lion’s share of state spending Thanks to MaineOpenGov.org, everyone can see what kind of is done: taxpayer-funded salaries those state employees in the judicial • Bernard Quigley, a “Physician III” at the Dorothea branch are earning. Dix Psychiatric Center, made $201,954 in total • Maine Supreme Court Chief Justice Leigh Saufley took compensation in 2011. home $167,137 in 2011 and her six counterparts took home about $150,000 each that same year.1 • Margaret Greenwald, the chief medical examiner, made $195,274 in 2011. • District Court Chief Judge Charles Laverdiere made The top 10 highest paid members of the executive branch $141,481 and his deputy chief judge, Robert Mullen, took in nearly $2 million total in compensation in 2011. received $140,362 in 2011. Working under those two judges are 35 district court judges who each took In 2011, there were 31 employees from the Health and home about $142,000 in total earnings in 2011. Human Services department alone who took home more • Thomas Humphrey, the Superior Court Chief Judge, than $100,000 in total compensation. That number is actually made $141,501 along with 17 Superior Court Judges down, from a high of 44 in 2008. who raked in between $135,000 and $143,000 each i n 2011. Another department of note that finds its home in the executive branch is the infamous Dirigo Health Department. • The State of Maine’s judges are not the only ones Three employees of Dirigo raked in more than $100,000 in making six figures. James Glassner, the state court 2011, including the executive director, Karynlee Harrington, administrator, made $126,000 in 2011. who pulled down $124,840 while overseeing the failing health program. In total, 11 employees at the Dirigo Health Agency • The State of Maine judicial branch doled out a total of cost taxpayers $840,000 in 2011. $31,000,000 in total compensation in 2011 alone. – 6 – Overdone Overtime One area where the state should really take a good look to identify possible savings is overtime paid to government employees. In 2011: • 2 took home more than $60,000 in overtime. • 2 took home more than $50,000 in overtime. • 5 took home more than $40,000 each in overtime.