Maine business leaders expressed both gratitude and disappointment Wednesday over the Legislature’s passage of two bond proposals totaling $100 million for roads and senior housing.

State lawmakers approved a bill Tuesday that will ask voters to authorize $85 million in transportation bonds for road and bridge projects, and another that seeks voter authorization for $15 million to help pay for affordable senior housing across the state. Both passed with strong bipartisan backing and will go on the statewide ballot in November if they survive a possible veto by Gov. Paul LePage.

Maine business leaders had been pushing for far more, including up to $175 million for transportation infrastructure, $65 million for senior housing, and $10 million to upgrade culverts and stream crossings statewide.

“I’m grateful that all wasn’t lost in the process,” said Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. “Both of these (transportation and senior housing) are basic infrastructure needs that are timely.”

Several other bond proposals championed by the chamber failed, including bonds for rural and municipal broadband Internet infrastructure, university research, technology grants, workforce training and major business-development projects. In all, nearly $1 billion worth of bonds were proposed in various bills, representing far more than the state could reasonably afford to borrow.

Still, Connors said Maine has the financial wherewithal to proceed with more bond proposals than it did.

“Sure, there was room for more,” he said. “I was hoping for a couple more.”

Advocates for the infrastructure bonds, including representatives of Maine’s construction industry, have argued that the money would jump-start the state economy, create jobs, provide vital shelter to seniors, make transportation safer, help the environment and boost tourism.

Matthew Marks, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Maine, said lawmakers took a positive step by authorizing the road and housing bond measures during a highly contentious legislative session. However, he said the dollar values are not sufficient to overcome Maine’s serious transportation and housing problems.

“We just seem to be falling further and further behind in infrastructure investment,” he said.

In May, the national research group TRIP released a report that described Maine’s bridges and rural roads as among the nation’s worst. TRIP, which promotes policies that reduce traffic congestion, said 26 percent of Maine’s rural roads have pavement in poor condition, and that only seven other states have worse roads.

The report also found that 15 percent of Maine’s rural bridges are structurally deficient. Only eight other states have a higher percent of deficient bridges, it said.

Another report commissioned by the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition estimated a 9,000-unit shortfall of senior housing throughout the state. It predicted the shortfall would reach 15,000 within a few years if no new units are built.

The $65 million that bond advocates had sought for senior housing in L.D. 1205 would have funded about 1,000 units of senior housing if approved. Based on simple math, $15 million would fund fewer than 250 units.

Perhaps even more dire is Maine’s transportation infrastructure problem, the business leaders said. Nearly half of the $85 million bond authorized in L.D. 1415 would go toward underfunded projects for this year, leaving just $45 million for 2016, they said.

Maine would need to spend roughly $140 million annually on bridges just to keep the state from falling further behind, Marks said.

“This doesn’t fill that capacity,” he said.

The bigger problem with transportation funding is that the state relies on the passage of bonds each year, rather than including the needed funding in Maine’s annual budget, said Timothy Ouellette, chief financial officer of Freeport-based CPM Constructors.

Even if voters approve the $85 million in borrowing, which he said is likely because they understand the need, lawmakers will be forced to repeat the whole process next year, Ouellette said.

“We’re just happy that a bond package did get passed,” he said. “What didn’t get passed is a multi-year solution.”

Voter approval of state borrowing does not necessarily mean the bonds will be issued. The governor is now withholding $11.5 million in bonds for the Land for Maine’s Future conservation program and has used the bonds as political leverage in order to pressure lawmakers to support other administration priorities.

On Tuesday, LePage vetoed L.D. 1378, which would have forced him to issue voter-approved bonds – including those now pending for the Land for Maine’s Future program – except in specific circumstances.

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