Maine Question 3, Historic Community Buildings Bond Issue (2024)

Maine Question 3
Election date November 5, 2024
Topic Bond issues
Status a Approved
Type Bond issue	Origin State Legislature

Maine Question 3, the Maine Historic Community Buildings Bond Issue, was on the ballot in Maine as a legislatively referred bond question on November 5, 2024. The ballot measure was approved.

A "yes" vote supported authorizing $10 million in general obligation bonds for the restoration of local community buildings.

A "no" vote opposed authorizing $10 million in general obligation bonds for the restoration of local community buildings.

Election results

Maine Question 3
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		410,979	51.23%
No		391,176	48.77%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What was this bond measure designed to provide money for?

See also: Text of measure

This bond issue authorized $10 million in general obligation bonds for the restoration of local community buildings owned by governmental or nonprofit organizations, to be matched by 25% from either private or nonprofit sources.

According to the fiscal note, the estimated cost of the bond was $12 million, with a $10 million in principal and, assuming a 3.75% interest rate over 10 years, $2.06 million in interest.

What were recent bond measures on the ballot in Maine?

See also: Background

Voters of Maine cast ballots on 42 bond issues, totaling $1.65 billion ($1,647,925,000) in value, from 2007 to 2023. Voters approved 41 of 42 bond issues between 2007 and 2023. The last bond measure voters decided was in 2021, when voters approved Question 2 by 71.97%-28.03%.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The official ballot title was as follows:

“

Do you favor a $10,000,000 bond issue to restore historic buildings owned by governmental and nonprofit organizations, with funds being issued contingent on a 25% local match requirement from either private or nonprofit sources?

”

The full text of the ballot initiative is below:

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2024

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The secretary of state wrote the ballot language for this measure.

The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 19, and the FRE is 18. The word count for the ballot title is 32.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• Gov. Janet T. Mills (D)
• State Rep. Sawin Millett Jr. (R)

Arguments

• Rep. Sawin Millett and Peter Merrill: "What most of these structures have in common is a need for repair and restoration and a local community group or municipality that cannot afford to do it. Many of them need upgrades to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements to ensure that everyone in the community is welcome without extra effort. Others need basic structural repairs such as roof replacements to ensure their viability. Some of the most pressing cases are highlighted every year by Maine Preservation’s list of the most endangered historic places, but there are many more ... There is currently no state program available to address this need. Many states, and most of the New England states, have annual appropriations for this. We do not, which is why this bond issue is so important."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate a campaign in opposition to the ballot measure.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Maine ballot measures

Ballotpedia did not identify ballot measure committees registered to support or oppose the ballot measure.

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Media editorials

See also: 2024 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

The following media editorial boards published an editorial supporting the ballot measure:

• Portland Press Herald Editorial Board: "Some might argue that this is a “nice to have” question, something that the state could simply do without funding. But the risk we outlined above is, in our view, too significant an opportunity cost. We prefer to believe that badly needed restoration of spaces that should be maximized for the common good is something that will pay off; our communities benefit from having access to venues that are safe and welcoming, even inviting. We lose sight of and lose out on the value of our shared history without taking care to protect it. And we all benefit from taking steps to preserve historical structures in our towns and cities which, by and large, were much harder-won and far more thoughtfully constructed than their modern counterparts. While a tranche of $10 million represents nothing like a panacea for this category of building statewide, if the alternative to this bond is to let government agencies and nonprofits across the state scrabble around for cash for very worthy and worthwhile restoration and repairs, we’d prefer to vote in favor of this shot in the arm."
• Bangor Daily News Editorial Board: "Question 3 would approve a $10 million bond to help restore historic government and nonprofit buildings across the state. The question requires a 25 percent local match from either private or nonprofit sources. This bond is a prudent if insufficient public investment in structures and sites like old meeting houses, town halls, public libraries, museums, grange buildings, old forts, homesteads, and other sites that might otherwise fade into memory without restoration efforts."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate media editorial boards in opposition to the ballot measure.

Background

Bond issues on the ballot in Maine

See also: Bond issues on the ballot

Voters of Maine cast ballots on 42 bond issues, totaling $1.65 billion ($1,647,925,000) in value, from January 1, 2007, through January 1, 2024. Voters approved 41 of 42 bond issues between 2007 and 2023. The last bond measure to be rejected was Question 2 (2012), which would have authorized $11 million in bonds to expand the state's community college system.

The following table contains information on the 42 bond issues that appeared on the ballot in Maine between January 1, 2007, through January 1, 2024:
Note: Click "Show" to expand the table.

Year	Measure	Amount	Primary purpose	Outcome
2007 (June)	Question 1	$112,975,000	Transportation projects	a
2007 (June)	Question 2	$18,300,000	Water facilities	a
2007	Question 2	$55,000,000	Economic development	a
2007	Question 3	$43,500,000	Higher education	a
2007	Question 4	$35,500,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2008 (June)	Question 1	$29,725,000	Water facilities and transportation projects	a
2008	Question 3	$3,400,000	Water facilities	a
2009	Question 6	$71,250,000	Transportation projects	a
2010 (June)	Question 2	$26,500,000	Energy projects and higher education	a
2010 (June)	Question 3	$47,800,000	Transportation projects	a
2010 (June)	Question 4	$23,750,000	Economic development	a
2010 (June)	Question 5	$10,250,000	Water facilities	a
2010	Question 2	$5,000,000	Healthcare services	a
2010	Question 3	$9,750,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2012	Question 2	$11,300,000	Higher education	d
2012	Question 3	$5,000,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2012	Question 4	$51,500,000	Transportation projects	a
2012	Question 5	$7,925,000	Water facilities	a
2013	Question 1	$14,000,000	Military facilities	a
2013	Question 2	$15,500,000	Higher education	a
2013	Question 3	$100,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2013	Question 4	$4,500,000	Higher education	a
2013	Question 5	$15,500,000	Higher education	a
2014	Question 2	$8,000,000	Agricultural research	a
2014	Question 3	$12,000,000	Economic development	a
2014	Question 4	$10,000,000	Healthcare research	a
2014	Question 5	$3,000,000	Healthcare research	a
2014	Question 6	$10,000,000	Water facilities and environmental conservation	a
2014	Question 7	$7,000,000	Economic development	a
2015	Question 2	$15,000,000	Housing projects	a
2015	Question 3	$85,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2016	Question 6	$100,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2017	Question 1	$50,000,000	Economic development	a
2017	Question 3	$105,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2018	Question 2	$30,000,000	Water facilities	a
2018	Question 3	$106,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2018	Question 4	$49,000,000	Higher education	a
2018	Question 5	$15,000,000	Higher education	a
2019	Question 1	$105,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2020	Question 1	$15,000,000	Internet infrastructure	a
2020	Question 2	$105,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2021	Question 2	$100,000,000	Transportation projects	a

Debt from voter-approved bonds

The state treasurer provided an overview of the state’s debt resulting from general obligation bonds, which included voter-approved bonds. A general obligation bond constitutes a public debt and is paid for through state funds. Section 14 of Article IX of the Maine Constitution requires that general obligation bonds exceeding $2 million be referred to the ballot for voter approval.

Maine had $559.37 million in debt from general obligation bonds in June 2023. The graph below provides an illustration of state debt from general obligation bonds and the annual amount of unissued bonds in millions of dollars between June 30, 2005, and June, 2023.

See also

2024 measures

• 2024 ballot measures
• Bond issues on the ballot

Maine

• Maine ballot measures
• Maine ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Maine LD 912

Footnotes