The Ellsworth American, just about the only newspaper in the state interested in smaller government, had this to say in an editorial today on the University of Maine system:
“There are legitimate arguments to be made about the need for Maine salaries to be competitive when seeking to attract the best and the brightest to essential positions. But the newly released list of state positions and salaries that pay more than twice the state average also calls into question whether all of those high-paying posts are essential to the efficient functioning of Maine’s various government agencies and institutions.
The University of Maine System is a case in point. Three years ago, the system was predicting an $85 million shortfall in its own budget by 2008. There was general consensus that business as usual no longer could be sustained. But proposals for major restructuring went nowhere and now we are three years further down the road.
The time has come for a full-blown restructuring of the UMS to achieve the same goals ascribed to the Governor’s hastily-drawn reorganization plan for Maine’s elementary and secondary school systems.”
Read the entire editorial here.