1. The State of Maine has until the end of this year to plan out how it will spend its Covid-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Maine is closer than most states to reaching that goal, but they’re not being completely transparent with how much money has been spent.
As of June, 16% of the state of Maine’s federal COVID money still has not been obligated, meaning the state doesn’t know what it’s going to spend the money on.
Maine was one of the first four states in the country to have its federal COVID relief spending approved by the Legislature. That was in 2021 - But the executive branch hasn’t been quite as fast at actually getting the money to its destination.
Maine got $4.6 billion - mostly for stimulus checks, virus testing or other programs set by the federal government. But there was $1 billion in discretionary money that Maine could spend as it saw fit (with approval from federal government).
The state of Maine has until the end of this year to obligate the remaining 16% ($160 million) of the $1 billion it received, meaning they need a firm plan for where the money will go. If they don’t, they’ll lose the money.
2. 16% of the money hasn’t been “obligated.” How is that different from money that’s actually been spent?
When a government obligates money it designates who is going to get that money in the future. But that doesn’t mean the money’s actually been spent - it could still be sitting in a bank account somewhere instead of actually helping Maine residents recover from the pandemic.
There’s a shocking lack of transparency. Maine isn’t making it clear to the public how much money has actually been spent so far; just how much is obligated.
3. Have other states spent all of their COVID relief money, or are they in a similar situation?
Nationwide
as of January, state governments have obligated 70% of their COVID funds. Maine as of June has obligated 84%.
States have spent 50% of their funds. The fastest spenders are states like Texas and Kentucky that have spent 80% or more of their funds. But some states like Oklahoma and Tennessee have spent 10% or less.
New England as a whole is right around average: no New England states are in the top 10 for most money spent but none are in the bottom 10 either.
But again, there’s a lack of transparency here. The U.S. Treasury is supposed to be releasing quarterly reports about the spending, but the most recent one on their
website is from last September.