Governor Sends Letters to Treasurer and Legislative Leadership Regarding Bonds

 

December 14, 2015

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage today delivered a letter to Legislative leadership and the State Treasurer clarifying his position and future intentions regarding bonding in 2016. In the letter the Governor indicates he will issue $5 million in Land for Maine’s Future bonds, which were ratified in 2012. Authority to issue another $6.47 million in LMF bonds was allowed to expire in November, due to Legislative inaction.
“My position all along has been that if wealthy landowners are going to benefit from selling their properties to the publicly funded LMF program, then senior citizens and other low-income Mainers should get a commensurate benefit,” wrote Governor LePage. “LMF bonds pay to take large tracts of land off the local tax rolls, which forces local property taxes to go up. All of this combines to increase taxes on the Mainers who can least afford it: middle-class families, the working poor, senior citizens and others on fixed incomes.”
“Make no mistake, I respect the will of the people. They elected me twice to bring fiscal responsibility and common-sense reform to state government, which includes managing our state’s debt and rooting out greedy politicians.”

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Offers Electronic Shopping for Quality IF&W Official Gear!!

Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is delighted to offer you its improved and expanded electronic store! Browse an even larger offering of clothing, books, DVDs,  and mugs. The added ease of shopping online means that you can complete all of your shopping from the comfort of home. Just think, no more lines; no more hassles!
We take pride in guaranteeing complete security of your privacy while you shop the IF&W Online Store.
All merchandise can also be obtained at our main office located at 284 State Street in Augusta.
Don't forget!:

• Logos on clothing items are created with full color fine embroidery.
• IF&W merchandise makes a great gift idea.
• Order yours today!

Note: For more IF&W logo merchandise, please visit the Nature Store at the Maine Wildlife Park, L.L. Bean store, and Kittery Trading Post.
Presently, online orders may be shipped to United States and Canada only. For international orders, please call us at (207) 287-8000.

To Access the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Online Store,

CLICK HERE:

http://www10.informe.org/webshop_ifw/index.php?storeID=2

Central Maine Power, York County Emergency Management Agency, and York County Cities and Towns Participate in Emergency Management Drill.

ALFRED, Maine —With winter weather around the corner, York County emergency officials staged a crisis to make sure they are prepared for the worst.
"We had a large ice storm that produced 2 inches of ice on Saturday, followed by a blizzard Sunday through Monday that produced 2 to 3 feet of snow," Megan Arsenault, of York County Emergency Management Agency, said.
Fortunately for Mainers this scenario was only a drill. However, you wouldn't know it at the county's command center. Volunteers coordinated with 22 towns for Wednesday's training.
"They call in here to our emergency ops center with their response as if they actually would do it during an event," Arsenault said.
In the scenario, 80 percent of the power in the county is out and staff are forced to call in resources from out of state.
"This exercise is showing us the need for shelters, generators, staff and individuals in the community to be prepared," Arsenault said.
Central Maine Power took part in the drill from its own command center.
"When we have a major storm at Central Maine Power, it's all hands on deck," CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice said.
Emergency crews practice drills like Wednesday's once a year. The drill was similar to the real ice storm in 2008.
"There's a broad range of people that are out there working on storm recovery," Rice said.
CMP's team created a map showing downed power lines, snapped poles and widespread outages.
"We like to practice these major storms that affect at least 10 percent of our customer base, which would be about 60,000 or more customer accounts," Rice said.