The Maine Center for Economic Policy is taking issue with a report on state spending released last week by the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center.

Two of Maine's prominent economic think tanks are clashing over a report detailing the state's fastest-growing programs.

The Maine Center for Economic Policy is taking issue with the report, called "The Fastest Growing General Fund Programs in Maine Government," released last week by the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center. MHPC CEO Terren Bragdon is co-chair of Maine Gov.-elect Paul LePage's budget transition committee.

In a statement, MECEP officials say the Policy Center's report released Thursday "is riddled with inaccuracy, distortion and deception," and accuses the MHPC of "inappropriate generalization and data 'lumping,' fabricating funding issues out of non-issues, grossly distorting by cherry picking data, and disregarding the purposes and achievements of individual programs."

At issue in particular are programs in Maine's Department of Health and Human Services, several of which Bragdon claims are growing faster than overall General Fund spending. But MECEP says that DHHS has "actually reduced its total General Fund expenses by nearly 7 percent while serving 120,000 more people than in 2002."

MECEP says some program growth cited by Bragdon has been paid for by fees, not through the General Fund, and that Bragdon failed to note that increases in some programs were offset by cuts in others.

In its report, the Maine Heritage Policy Center says that General Fund spending on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, otherwise known as TANF, has increased by 72 percent over the last decade. But MECEP officials say the program constitutes only one percent of the state's budget, and that basic TANF benefits haven't increased since 2001, remaining the lowest in New England.