Committee hears from Castine officials and preservation advocates on $18 million proposal to address backlog at state historic sites

LD 761 / Historic sites funding: Sen. Nicole Grochowski, D-Hancock County, told the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry on April 1 that many of Maine's nearly 20 state-owned historic sites "are in dire need of financial support to save them from falling into complete disrepair." She presented LD 761 as a mechanism to pick up a funding proposal left unfinished in the prior session.

Why it matters: Grochowski told the committee the Bureau of Parks and Lands oversees the sites but they were excluded from a $50 million ARPA investment in state parks and so remain ineligible for that funding. She said a statewide maintenance backlog across those sites totals about $32 million and the proposal before the Legislature would create an $18 million, non-lapsing carryover fund that could be used if the state ends a fiscal…