As part of an ongoing effort to address a $438-million dollar state budget shortfall, the Baldacci administration is looking to slash about $70 million from social service program. Today, the Legislature's Appropriations Committee began three days of hearings on the proposed cuts, which include General Assistance, considered the safety net for some of Maine's most needy residents. The state wants to change the way it reimburses cities and towns for GA, and that's being met with strong resistance in Maine's largest city.

Portland may be Maine's largest urban center, but it's also Maine's largest service center. In other words, it's the place where more people come to get help when they can't find a job, or they need help with their rent or they find themselves homeless.

General Assistance is a state-mandated program. That means it has to be offered. But most cities and towns are only reimbursed for 50 percent of their costs. A few, such as Portland and Bangor, that reach a certain threshold under a state formula are reimbursed 90 percent.

But the Baldacci administration would like to scale that back. And, for the the city of Portland that's a problem, because in the past couple of years demand for services has been climbing. City Councilor John Anton says requests for GA are up 40 percent from this time last year, and that's on top of a nearly 36 percent increase the year before.

"In my opinion the increase does not demonstrate an overly generous GA program in Portland, but instead reflects the economic reality facing both the state and country," he says. For example, Anton says the number of first-time applicants is up because of the lack of job opportunities.

"Particularly striking is the number of individuals with strong and long-term work histories and professional skill sets, including those with secondary and graduate degrees from fields such as computer technology, management, communications, health care, enterprise engineering, hazardous waste operations and many others," Anton says. "Many of these first-time applicants own their own homes, have previously been employed and are now struggling with securing basic necessities."

But even as more people look for help, the state is hoping to revise the reimbursement formula. The result would cost about a dozen municipalities $2 million, and Anton says most of that amount -- about $1.3 million -- would come from Portland, which has the largest GA program in the state.

Anton says he doesn't think it's fair to penalize the city and other municipalities that are best prepared to help those most in need. And state Sen. Joe Brannigan of Portland anticipates it will result in a cost shift -- to local property taxpayers.

"It's a big deal for us," Brannigan says. "Then you put it together with the school cuts and the revenue sharing cuts and other responsibilities and it's huge. And so it's a tax increase, I would think."

"The whole point is if the state's going to mandate something, they should pay for the whole thing," says Steve Scharf, President of the Portland Taxpayers Association, which has not taken a position on the general assistance proposal. "In the end it will fall on the property tax," he says. "Whether the city has to raise property tax or not is a function of the entire budget."

Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Brenda Harvey says she understands that Portland and Bangor would be the two cities hardest hit by the change in reimbursement for GA. But Harvey also suggests that municipalities could administer their programs in a different way, and she says that will have to be explored.

"They can restrict or manage differently what types of services they support," she says. "What Senator Brannigan was saying is, 'Let's study this. Let's look at what's in our other public benefits.' What is in the public benefit package that people get and perhaps there's another way to get at shelter for example -- is GA the best way to support shelter costs? I don't know the answer, but we're certainly going to have that debate."

In addition to the City of Portland, the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition also opposes the cuts to General Assistance. Bill Floyd says the coalition, which represents shelters, developers, banks and aid organizations, thinks it would have a severe impact on some of the most vulnerable residents.

Case in point: Floyd says there are currently more than 5,000 people on a waiting list for Section 8 housing assistance. The average wait time is up to five years. And while they wait, Floyd says, many of the families rely on general assistance to ensure they have a roof over their heads.