Perhaps, in 50 years, historians will look back and call this the Era of Shrinking Pie.
Local, state or federal level, it doesn’t matter. Fewer services, fewer programs, more poorly performed government services all around.
A growing pie leaves everyone full and satisfied. A shrinking one leaves people bitter and disillusioned.
All of which helps explain public reaction to the state’s inability to approve concealed weapon permits in a timely fashion.
With the way people are snapping up and carrying guns — an inexplicable and, in our opinion, unfortunate development — the Maine State Police have a backlog of 4,600 permit applications awaiting approval.
That means the single employee tasked with approving these permits is four months behind schedule.
Police in larger cities can approve permits for their residents, but Mainers without their own police departments are required to go through the state’s system.
Meanwhile, state law requires new permits must be either rejected or approved within 60 days, and requires a time-consuming process for vetting applicants.
Dealing with massive deficits, the state has been unwilling to approve funding to hire more workers to handle the task.
Meanwhile, changing the rules to allow more time for approval would be politically untenable with such a strong pro-gun lobby in the state.
Gun availability in the U.S. must constantly expand and never contract. It’s become an immutable law of political physics.
But state government has become a minefield of broken promises of far greater import.
For most of 43 years, since the program was established, the Legislature has provided 100 percent of the money required by state law for revenue sharing and property tax relief.
But, according to a chart supplied by Geoff Herman of the Maine Municipal Association, a new trend has emerged.
The Legislature grabbed 21 percent of that money for other purposes in 2010, which turned to 32 percent in 2013 and will become 53 percent in 2014 and 59 percent the following year.
That’s the money the Legislature said in 1972 should go toward local property tax relief.
Now it’s not, and guess what happens to local property taxes when that happens?
You probably won’t have to guess for long. Just look at your property tax bill.
In 1984, voters ordered the state at referendum to fund 55 percent of basic local education expenses. That never happened, and the funding rate for 2014-2015 will be about half that.
In 1987, the Legislature established the circuit-breaker program to help relieve lower-income Mainers and retirees from the burden of property taxes.
That benefit will be drastically slashed going forward, meaning more low-income property owners will not get any tax help.
State aid to help local communities maintain roads has also declined since 1999, when that program was established. By 2015, the amount will be about what it was in 1999 (about $20 million) after reaching a high point of $26 million in 2008.
Of course, the broken promises don’t end there. In 2012, for the first time in the program’s history, an average couple can expect to receive less than what they contributed to Social Security.
That comes as many members of Congress argue that long-promised Social Security benefits should be cut for those people still working.
We could go on, but won’t.
In the land of broken promises, waiting a few extra months for a gun permit seems more inconvenience than problem.
rrhoades@sunjournal.com
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