Re: “State ends fiscal year with $111 million surplus” (July 26):

As this administration brags about the surplus, Maine has seen a 50 percent increase over the last five years for children living in poverty – the sharpest increase of any state in the nation.

As this administration brags about the surplus, 48,000 Maine children are living in poverty – almost half are in “extreme poverty.”

As this administration brags about the surplus, over 200,000 Mainers – one in four of them children – are living with food insecurity.

As this administration brags about the surplus, Maine is now the most food-insecure state in New England and one of the most food-insecure in the U.S.

As this administration brags about the surplus, drug-related crime is rising.

As this administration brags about the surplus, overdose and addiction rates in Maine have more than tripled since 2012.

As this administration brags about the surplus, infant mortality is rising. Maine’s the only state in the U.S. with a worse infant mortality rate in this decade than in the last.

As this administration brags about the surplus, over 70,000 Mainers have been denied health care because this administration didn’t expand MaineCare.

As this administration brags about the surplus, it has dismantled 27 health coalitions – dramatically cutting Mainers’ access to public health resources.

As this administration brags about the surplus, it has forfeited nearly $2 billion in federal funds for public health initiatives just since 2011.

As this administration brags about the surplus, elders are sitting on housing wait lists for years (and facing homelessness) because this administration refuses to sign off on the low-income elder housing bonds we all approved.

The list goes on and on. Bottom line: This administration has a surplus because it has gutted the services to help Maine’s poor and most vulnerable. This surplus is not because our state is doing well, and it’s nothing to be proud of.

Cheryl Golek

Harpswell

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