The Houlton office and its staff was performing incredibly efficient work and bringing the State far more in tax revenues than the operational cost of the office itself. Additionally, in an area with over 8 percent unemployment, (nearly double the statewide average) it made no sense to place the security of a dozen Aroostook County families in jeopardy for minimal budgetary savings.
As Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I worked incredibly hard with the citizens of Houlton, Rep. Richard Cleary, and the Maine State Employees Association to convince the Governor that closing the Houlton office was a bad idea. With potential disaster averted, I visited the employees of the Houlton office this summer and celebrated the idea’s defeat.
None of us can rest on our laurels, however. Last month, we all experienced déjà vu when the Governor presented the Appropriations Committee with another plan for budgetary savings. Included in the varied proposals was another that was detrimental to Houlton and to Aroostook County. This time, the Governor proposed closing the Houlton Career Center, saving $44,000 in operational costs and causing the elimination of several full-time jobs here in Aroostook County.
As before, this plan fails the basic test of common sense. In an area with already high unemployment, the one office that we cannot afford to close is the one that helps the unemployed find meaningful work. Businesses in southern Aroostook, too, would be harmed by the closure – employers, large and small, focus their recruitment efforts at the Houlton Career Center. If we are to develop our workforce and create economic growth, we must keep Career Center offices open in the most economically depressed areas of the state.
As before, I will be working closely with the citizens of Houlton, Rep. Richard Cleary, and other interested parties to defeat this ill-advised proposal. If you would like to voice your opinion to the Governor on this issue, he may be contacted by email (governor@maine.gov), by phone (287-3531), or by mail (1 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333).
Rep. Jeremy Fischer represents Presque Isle in the Maine House of Representatives and serves as Chairman of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. He may be reached by phone (551-3097), by e-mail (RepJeremy.Fischer@legislature.maine.gov), or by mail (6C Third St., Presque Isle, Maine 04769).
Protecting jobs and opportunity in Houlton … again
It seems like déjà vu for Aroostook County. Just a few short months ago, when Governor Baldacci presented the Legislature with his two-year state budget proposal, he included an initiative that would have saved the State roughly $300,000 per year. The way in which the savings were to be achieved would have been incredibly detrimental to Aroostook County: the Governor’s plan called for closing the Houlton office of the Maine Revenue Services, eliminating a dozen positions, and shipping the jobs south to Augusta.
