AUGUSTA - It is a Tuesday in early March and the chamber of the Maine House of Representatives is nearly empty save for freshman Republican Windol Weaver, serving in his first term as representative from York, seated at his appointed chair in the front row of the grand old room, sifting through papers containing the day's work ahead of him.
Always an early starter, Weaver was given his own key to the chamber during his first month.
"I kept coming in and finding him there waiting for me to unlock the door, so finally I gave him his own key," laughed Assistant Sergeant at Arms Norm Arbour.
Pointing at his chair and his small space on the broad curving desk on the Republican side of the aisle, Weaver says, "That's my office, that's all there is."
But if his office space is small, the tasks facing Weaver and his fellow legislators are enormous as they stare down the barrel of state revenue shortfall of over $200 million, which has thrown the state's budget process into crisis.
"There are cuts that are going to be coming, and they are going to be brutal," said Weaver.
As if on cue, later the same day the York School Department announced that they had been advised by the Maine Department of Education that the town's state subsidy was being cut by nearly $1 million as part of an overall cut of $35 million in state subsidies for education. (See story on page 6 for details.)
The proposed cut is apparently unrelated to York's move to remain outside the governor's controversial school consolidation plan, and is instead a direct result of the current state revenue shortfall.
Weaver voted against the state budget last year due to its inclusion of the school consolidation plan, which he noted has been widely opposed by his constituents. Weaver said that while most residents are aware of the negative impacts that the school consolidation plan could have on York, many are unaware of the enormous implications that the state budget shortfall is likely to have as well.
When it comes to the work of the Legislature in recent weeks, Weaver said, "This budget is just consuming everybody."
With 80 percent of the budget taken up by the Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, Weaver said he expects the need to balance the budget will impact some of Maine's most vulnerable residents.
"It's going to be the elderly and kids in homes and schools," he said, adding, "The cuts that are being made in Medicare are going to be brutal. ... When you give people benefits, and then you start taking them away, that's rough."
Weaver said that his party's view is that these cuts should come at the upper management levels first rather than at the implementation level, such as caregivers, that would affect users of services the most.
The cuts are being forced by the state's revenue shortfall, which comes as the result of both changes in federal rules that removed $45 million in Medicare funding and, according to Weaver, a revenue forecast that did not match reality.
Weaver noted that before the Legislature adjourns for the year on April 16, it must find a way to address that shortfall in the state's $6.3 billion budget, and he suspects that before the session is through a new tax package will be proposed - despite claims that no new taxes would be forthcoming.
"These cuts are going to be painful," he said, "and eventually I think there will be a backlash that will force a tax package, most likely in the form of sales tax increase."
Weaver stated that he would remain opposed to such a move, but foresees a "big fight" that he expects to break on party lines.
But despite the school consolidation battle and the present budget crisis, Weaver said he has enjoyed his first term and plans to seek reelection in November. Weaver noted that he has been very impressed by the quality of people serving on both sides, and pleasantly surprised by the collegiality of all the members.
"There are some very smart people here who are working very hard for what little they get," he said.
State representatives currently receive approximately $13,000 annually plus health benefits in exchange for a work commitment of three to five days per week when the Legislature is in session, typically from early January to late spring, plus ongoing constituent work on a year-round basis.
Weaver cited his work on the Select Standing Committee on Maine's Future Prosperity as an encouraging sign that bipartisan efforts are possible.
"When I walked into that room I first thought there was no way we were going to get anything done," said Weaver of his first day in a committee comprised of seven Republicans, seven Democrats, one Independent and one Native American, "but we eventually came out with a unanimous report."
Weaver presently serves on the Joint Standing Committee of State and Local Government, which oversees a myriad of issues ranging from town border disputes to local matters that occasionally have a distinctly old New England air about them.
Smiling, Weaver recalled a recent bill proposed to the committee that would require towns to bear the cost of exhumation and re-interment in cases where the body had been buried in the wrong place. The bill originated in a complaint by a widow in Thorndike whose husband had been buried in the wrong plot.
Fortunately, said Weaver, the matter was resolved locally and the bill was withdrawn.
In the future, Weaver, the former chair of York's Budget Committee and a past member of the York County Budget Committee, said he hopes for a seat on the state Appropriations Committee.
"They get beat up, and nothing they do is right," he said, "but that's where all the action is."
A former B-52 pilot, Weaver has never been shy on the issue of taxes.
At the state level, Weaver believes that Maine does too little to encourage new business and instead reaches "out for taxes anywhere we can get them," thereby driving people and businesses away from the state.
To illustrate what he described as the absurdity of Maine's system of taxation, he pointed to a recent case where the state sent a Massachusetts man a tax bill on his private plane.
"This gentleman is a Massachusetts resident who bought his plane there. He visits Maine occasionally to use his plane in support of Angel Flight missions. This is a volunteer, nonprofit organization providing free flights to residents of rural Maine whose medical problems require travel to hospitals in the Boston area" Weaver explained. "Apparently, he accumulated 21 days in Maine, exceeding the 20-day limit for tax-free visits, thereby qualifying for the ‘honor' of paying Maine state sales tax on his aircraft. He received a bill for $26,000 from Maine Revenue Services."
In another case, he noted that Maine charged a private pilot with a use tax amounting to $175,000 - prompting the pilot to move his business from Maine to New Hampshire.
Weaver also pointed to a "revenue" source built into the state budget in which Maine may tax out-of-state purchases of gift cards not used within two years. Weaver questioned how the state had ever expected to carry out such a plan and wonders how such taxes could have been built into the budget as revenue.
"That's revenue that we'll never see," he said.
If elected to a second term, Weaver said he hopes to use the experience he has gained to help address these issues.
"The learning curve here is incredibly steep and there are still things that I am learning every day - procedurally, strategically, and in many other ways," he said. "That first year was like swimming just barely above water."
But as for his mission, Weaver has no doubts.
"For 30 years, this state has been spending, spending, spending and now we've run out of money and we are in real trouble," he said. "They said there aren't going to be any new taxes, but I believe that instead of really starting to fix things, we'll just see another tax package come out."
Says Weaver without a flinch, "I'll be against it."
