It’s pretty clear that Maine has a spending problem, exacerbated by Gov. Janet Mills’ reckless policies. In 2010, when former Gov. Paul LePage left office, the total state general fund budget was approximately $8 billion; today, it’s approximately $11.3 billion.

It would be nice to think that we were just keeping pace with current programs. That’s not the case.

Gov. Mills expanded Medicaid the minute she took office, and created the free community college program, to name just two. There are a whole host of other areas where Mills has increased spending — the new paid family leave program, for one — rather than simply keeping pace with inflation or other costs.

This stands in stark contrast to the approach that Paul LePage took to spending when he was in office. Between 2010 and 2018, the state budget barely nudged upward, from around $8 billion to $8.1 billion. So, the balloon in spending from 2010 to today is almost entirely attributable to Janet Mills and Democrats in the Legislature. Paul LePage may not have really cut spending, overall, but he held it back; Janet Mills hasn’t in any way, shape or form.

She has, though, at least done better than Democrats in the Legislature would have done, who keep proposing new spending and new programs. The problem isn’t just that Mills and the Democrats are spending a lot of money, it’s that we don’t necessarily know how well that money is being spent.

A recent audit of the state government found vast deficiencies in accountability at the state level. The audit found that the state didn’t do a good job of keeping track of contracts, allowing smaller new contracts to existing contractors in violation of state policy, for instance. Irregularities were also found in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the school meals program.

The administration dismissed the report, for the most part, while the media focused much more attention on the ongoing dispute between the Trump and Mills administrations over the participation of trans students in sports. Even if those irregularities are the only ones, it doesn’t account for just misplaced spending priorities, like unnecessary programs and positions.

It’s not just at the state level, either. Towns and school districts in central Maine — and, one suspects, throughout the state — have been having a tougher time finding outside auditors to do the work. This isn’t necessarily an example of a nefarious attempt to hide public spending, but the end result is the same. This is a serious issue that the Legislature ought to be addressing. Theoretically, various local actors — counties, school districts and counties — are supposed to conduct audits, but if they can’t do them on their own, or find an outside contractor, then they just don’t get done.

It’s not all bad news on the accountability front, however. The Legislature recently passed a bill unanimously out of committee that holds the various public entities across Maine that received money from the opioid settlement responsible for showing how those funds are being spent. That’s especially good news, because it’s all too easy to lose track of how legal settlement funds are spent. We saw this earlier, all over the country, with the settlement between states and local governments and the tobacco companies. At first, these funds were directed toward real smoking-prevention programs and public health, but over the years, politicians saw money sitting there and they started to dip into it for various purposes.

While it’s great that state legislators are paying attention to the opioid funds, they ought to be paying attention to all state and local spending with a similar level of diligence. Just as we ought to routinely reconsider whether every single government program is necessary, it’s incumbent upon public officials to make sure that taxpayer money is always being spent wisely. Whether it’s Congress or the state Legislature, elected officials will often set broad categories for spending, then leave it up to unelected bureaucrats to decide exactly how money is spent.

At a certain level, that’s necessary. Elected officials can’t micromanage every single aspect of state and local spending. They can, however, not only mandate routine audits, but make sure that the government carries them out and has the means to do so. Ideally, this should be done in a professional, objective, nonpartisan way, so elected officials — and the public — can see how our money is being spent. If it is, we can have an effectively run government that’s worthy of our support; if not, we risk wasting money without accountability.