— A small raise in the stipend provided for members of two influential state boards is hardly excessive and is also long overdue.

The panels in question are the Land Use Regulation Commission, which acts as a planning and zoning board for development projects in the state's 10.5 million acres of unorganized territories, and the Board of the Department of Environmental Protection, which adopts state environment rules and has jurisdiction over major permit applications and appeals.

The seven members of LURC and the 10 people who comprise the BEP are part-timers nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. Most of them hold other full-time jobs. Yet, their obligations to the state for their posts on these panels have become increasingly time-consuming in recent years.

For example, the members of LURC, who used to meet monthly on a regular basis and supplement that with an occasional hearing, now have spent four full weeks in technical sessions and conducted four day-long hearings on the application by Plum Creek for a major project in the Moosehead Lake region.

Numerous wind power projects have also required their attention, which includes time spent studying massive applications and staff reports.

Members of the BEP have seen their workload grow with projects requiring environmental approval such as LNG terminal applications and major river cleanup projects.

And for all that effort, they are compensated at the rate of $55 a day of actual hearing time, without any pay for preparation. That rate that has remained unchanged since 1987.

A bill is being heard today to increase that rate to $100. That hardly seems like enough, but at least it's something. It clearly deserves approval.