maine.gov relief checks

Maine.gov Relief Checks - Maine Gov. Janet Mills spent more than $500,000 to mail a physical check, instead of making an $850 instant electronic deposit, so she could include a signed payday credit receipt before the day of the elections

"You, the people of Maine, are our greatest asset, and I will always fight for you," Mills wrote in the letter.

Maine.gov Relief Checks

The campaign-style email on official letterhead also says the governor says Maine's economy is recovering from the government shutdown and encourages letter recipients to find out if they qualify for form of government subsidies.

Will State Of Maine Residents Be Getting Another Check?

State Assembly Republicans have been repeatedly assured that emergency checks will not be used to influence elections, but lawmakers have not included the language in the supplemental bill because the budget prevents that physical checks, along with the paper, arrive in mailboxes a week earlier. Election day.

"When it went up to $850, which was the original Republican idea that Mills brought up, it came through the Taxation Committee, and as Republicans, our biggest concern was getting it passed." Elections to buy votes," said First. Assistant. Minority Leader Rep. Joel Stetkis (R-Canaan).

“So during the hearings, with the Taxation Committee, and also with Appropriations, we assured the Maine Department of Revenue that everybody who can get the $850, they're going to get it the same way they got the money. COVID relief money,” Stetki said.

"We said, if it's as urgent as you say, we need to get out sooner rather than later," he said. "It's absolute vote buying."

Where's My Refund

"He unnecessarily spent taxpayers' money to campaign for himself when those payments were meant to go out electronically," he said.

"We specifically asked them to look into issuing these checks electronically, which they said they would look into," the representative said. Jack Ducharme (R-Madison). "We thought electronic payments would come faster and not become a stimulus."

"It had to be a deliberate choice to email them," he said. "Having the letter with them just confirms what we suspected would happen when we asked them not to."

Ducharme said Republicans tried to include language in the supplemental budget bill that would require Maine Revenue Services to make payments electronically, but Democrats on the Appropriations Committee blocked it.

Verify: No, Me's $850 Relief Checks Are Not Subject To State Or F

A source who requested anonymity for fear of retribution from the Mills administration said the value of each of the more than 800,000 checks could exceed $500,000.

Maine Wire filed an Access to Information Act request with the Maine Department of Public Administration and Finance to obtain communications about the decision as well as financial records of the expenditures. State of the State Address at the Maine State Capitol on Thursday, February 10, 2022. Credit: Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via AP

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills will increase her proposed inflation check by $250 after a state commission estimates Maine will increase revenue by $411.6 million during the current biennial budget.

The news came after a meeting of the government's forecasting committee on Tuesday. Mills said he would use half of the increase to raise the average check value to $750 for 800,000 people. These certificates will be issued in July of this year, if the House of Representatives approves its additional budget proposal before the Senate.

Fourth Stimulus Check Worth Nearly $300 Is Being Mailed Out This Week

As the governor plans to use the increased revenue, members of the revenue estimate committee welcomed the new projections. They see the possibility of economic uncertainty as inflation and global events affect the cost of everyday goods and the impact of programs like stimulus checks is reduced, reducing their long-term confidence in new predictions. David Gunter, an economist with Maine Revenue Services, pointed specifically to rising gas prices that could lower sales taxes in the near future.

The checks were at the center of the Republican budget platform last year. But the party has become more protective of the money being used for tax cuts, especially after former Gov. Paul LePage — Mills' opponent in the fall gubernatorial election — began pushing the issue of the election campaign.

Public hearings on Mills' $850 million supplemental budget proposal continue this week. The governor is expected to unveil a package of reforms that include emergency controls later this month.