Workers & Retirees Discuss Damage Paul LePage Did to Their Retirement Benefits & Steps Mills Has Taken to Repair It

In 2011, Governor Paul LePage and then-State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin concocted a scheme to cut the pensions of state workers and public school teachers to help pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. That year, hundreds of workers flooded the State House in Augusta to oppose the former Governor’s transfer of money from retired workers to the state’s wealthiest residents.

Lois Baxter, a retired Department of Health and Human Service, said she was especially hurt by the former Governor’s cuts to cost of living increases (COLA) to MainePERs pensions. As a result, she was only able to get a COLA on half of her pension after working 31 years for the state. She noted that the former governor also defunded retiree health insurance by $40 million, which forced retirees to pay for co-insurance, higher co-payments and deductibles.

"State government is not a business even though LePage thought it was,” said Baxter. “There isn’t a person in this state that doesn’t use at least some kind of public service, whether it’s the roads they drive on, police or fire protection. These are public employees and we can’t do without them.” 

Steve Keaten (MSEA), said he decided to retire from his job as a senior health financial analyst with the state before LePage’s cuts to public employee benefits took effect for newly retired workers. He knew his job was being considered for the chopping block and because LePage cut retiree health care, Keaten would been left uninsured before he could collect Medicare if he lost his job or retired before the age of 65. So instead, he retired early and took a 42 percent penalty on his retirement. He said that LePage created a very difficult work environment for all state employees. 

“During the LePage years there was a lot of employee turnover," said Keaten. "He laid off a lot of workers, so we lost a lot of institutional knowledge about how to do the work.

In a 2012 ad, Sergeant Curtis Doyle, an AFSCME 93 member and corrections officer at Maine State Prison, described the stress and trauma he and his coworkers experience in the line of duty — including being assaulted and breaking up fights — only to have LePage cut their pensions.

“I’m very much supported by the prison administration, but once it gets to the legislative bodies and the Governor — you know, the people writing the checks — they’ve pointed the finger at all state workers and said, ‘you’re the reason’ and it’s not right,” said Doyle. “It’s not my fault and it’s not my family’s fault. Don’t blame the state worker and don’t blame the union.”

Tony Sweet (AFSCME 93), a corrections officer at Maine Correctional Center, recalled the time he had to administer first aid to an inmate who had used a razor blade to cut length-wise from her wrist to her armpit.

“You become someone who, within seconds can go from zero to a hundred. The hardest part is going back to zero," said Sweet. "I expect to come home. It doesn’t mean I’m going to. My friend didn’t expect to go to work one day and not expect to go home, but it happened. Every single day when I walk through the lobby there’s a glass case that has a picture of him in it and I touch it and tell him ‘thank you’… I’ve heard rumblings of the Legislature wanting to move up our retirement age. The only one whose pension wasn’t cut was Paul LePage.”

Mills Helps Fix Some of the Damage LePage Left

Public employees say conditions have markedly improved under the leadership of Governor Janet Mills and Senate President Troy Jackson. The Mills administration’s improvements to pensions and health benefits for teachers and state employees include:

• Increasing the cost of living adjustment (COLA) from 3 percent to 4 percent. Retirees previously only received a 3 percent increase last summer because the LePage administration reduced the COLA from 4 percent to 3 percent in 2011.

• Adding an additional 2.4 percent to the pension base. This will help ensure benefits do not deflate for current retirees and other workers in the MePERS system when they retire.

• Properly funding health care plan so out of pocket costs don’t rise for MainePERs employees. Making mental health and substance abuse office visits covered at 100 percent with no co-pay or deductible.

• Exempting the first $25,000 in retirement income from state income tax for retirees beginning next year. Increasing the tax exemptions on pensions and other private retirement benefits by $5,000 per year until it matches the exemptions for Social Security benefits. 

“The income tax exemption is great,” said Baxter. “It’s $25,000 this year and it’s going to increase to $35,000. With the deductions I get on my federal taxes that means that I probably won’t have to pay any income tax.”

Baxter added that while there is room for improvement, her situation is better under Mills than under LePage, noting that a lot of people don’t realize that retired teachers and state employees in Maine don’t receive Social Security, even if they’ve had separate careers in the private sector

“I certainly don’t live large on my pension," said Baxter. "Between the cost of living and the cost of oil, this is probably the roughest year I’ve had since I retired. My oil went up $200 a month to almost $500 a month this year so that’s a big hit out of my pension.”