BRUNSWICK

If President Donald Trump gets his way on the federal budget, many Midcoast Maine residents could be left in the cold.

The Trump administration’s budget blueprint, an outline of a full budget expected to be released in May, proposes a 17.9 percent cut to the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the complete elimination of funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

LIHEAP primarily helps eligible low income families pay their heating bills, although a small portion of LIHEAP funds are also used to help improve furnaces, provide weatherization services and secure heating fuel in emergencies. The program is administered by MaineHousing.

“LIHEAP is not intended to pay a household’s entire fuel bill, it is to help pay the fuel bill. For a majority of people, the money goes directly to the fuel dealer, it does not go to the households,” said MaineHousing spokeswoman Deborah Turcotte.

According to data provided by Maine- Housing, LIHEAP assisted more than 40,000 Maine households in fiscal year 2016, with 1,373 of those households in The Times Record coverage area. The average benefit per household for non-emergency fuel assistance benefits — which was the majority — was $668.

“For those folks, if this were to go through, they will have no fuel assistance whatsoever because it’s not a partial cut — right now it is a total elimination of LIHEAP,” said Michael Tarpinian, president and chief executive officer of The Opportunity Alliance, which helps people in Cumberland County apply for LIHEAP.

“The federal budget process is just beginning and it will be a long process obviously, but that’s a big gulp,” he added.

The Trump administration argues that cutting the program is simply part of eliminating funding for programs that are duplicated in other departments or levels of government, or have a limited impact.

“Compared to other income support programs that serve similar populations, LIHEAP is a lower-impact program and is unable to demonstrate strong performance outcomes,” reads the administration’s budget blueprint.

“How can providing fuel assistance to keep someone’s home warm not be a demonstrated benefit?” asked Maria Hinteregger, associate director of Community Impact at United Way of Mid Coast Maine.

“It’s often the only thing standing between somebody having nothing in their tank,” said Hinteregger. “What do people do if they have no money left to put money in the tank? We’re talking about Maine!”

Although there is no state government program doing the same work as LIHEAP, said Turcotte, there are dozens of municipal programs and local/regional funds that help provide similar assistance to low-income Maine residents. Most provide one-time funding for up to 100 gallons of oil to eligible households. But for the most part, says Hinteregger, these small funds are meant to fill the gap between those who qualify for LIHEAP and those who can actually afford to pay their heating bills.

“Some of the programs see themselves as a way to bridge that gap,” said Hinteregger, but those programs do not have the resources to offer the same level of financial assistance that LIHEAP does.

For instance, LIHEAP provided approximately $560,000 in fuel assistance to the southern Midcoast area (defined broadly as Sagadahoc County and the greater Brunswick area), according to MaineHousing data from fiscal year 2016. Using data provided by the United Way of Mid Coast Maine, The Times Record found that local programs offering fuel assistance to the same area provided less than a tenth of the federal money that LIHEAP distributed in the same time period.

One possible option is for the state to pick up the tab, but that’s no easy feat. Maine residents received $21,967,101 in federal dollars for heating fuel costs through LIHEAP in fiscal year 2016, according to MaineHousing, and that doesn’t include the more than $10,000 in LIHEAP funds that went toward weatherization and furnace improvements, among other things.

“Now, does the Maine Legislature have the option of picking that up? Yes they do, they have that option. Whether or not they choose to do it, I just don’t know,” said Tarpinian. “But it’s a sizable amount of money. That’s what I worry most about.”

Trump’s budget proposal is far from a done deal. Already, members of Maine’s congressional delegation have expressed concerns over proposed cuts to LIHEAP.

“From our families who rely on LIHEAP … to our cities and towns that rely on the Economic Development Administration and Community Development Block Grants to bring job creation to Maine, this budget would leave Mainers and Maine communities behind,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, last week in response to the budget blueprint.

“I’m specifically concerned about making too significant reductions for programs like LIHEAP, Community Development Block Grants and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” said Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine.

Similarly, Maine’s two senators questioned the president’s proposal to cut heating assistance.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

LIHEAP funding in Midcoast

THE TOP FOUR RECIPIENTS of

LIHEAP funds in the southern Midcoast region, according to 2016 MaineHousing data:

• Topsham — 153 households, benefit amount of $71,641.10

• Bath — 215 households, benefit amount of $68,979.47

• Brunswick — 366 households, benefit amount of $124,327.51

• Wiscasset — 108 households, benefit amount of $68,446.04