Randy Billings’ Feb. 26 story (“Top job, low pay: No governor makes less than Maine’s,” Feb. 26) underscores one of the striking contradictions in Maine government: How the state’s chief executive, Gov. Mills, at a salary of $70,000 a year, makes less than a good waitress at a top restaurant – the lowest pay in 50 states.

For Gov. Mills to pay for membership at an Augusta gym, she probably needs a GoFundMe page. If she deducted such normal household expenses as insurance, cable television, telephone service, internet, fuel oil, water and sewer charges, etc., she’s below the poverty line. By contrast, the Press Herald carried a story recently, noting the hiring of an equity director for local government at a salary of $113,000.

Legislators can easily and permanently fix the next governor’s salary, with an upgrade and a cost-of-living index. Had they done so back in 1986 (the last year there was a raise in pay), it would have been one less thing to worry about.

Robert Moorehead
Paris