ROCKLAND — Sheriff Daniel Davey and Jail Administrator Maj. Raymond Voyer told the County Commissioners this week that they believed the state was working behind the scenes to “take over” the county jails.

Davey and Voyer said they based their suspicions on recent legislation that reduced the annual reimbursement to counties for boarding state prisoners in their jails.

The potential loss of more than $200,000 in jail reimbursement funds to Knox County prompted County Commissioner Gene Kenniston to remark, “it kind of seems to me that the state is laying a good foundation to take over control of the county jails … They are putting more of a burden on the property tax.”

Voyer described the loss of reimbursement funds as “kind of a devious thing” foisted on the public by a faction within state government that wanted to “take over” the county jails. Voyer said he viewed such action as “frightening.”

“As a county employee and county taxpayer, I would rather see the county run the jails,” Voyer told the commissioners. “No state entity is ever going to run things more cost-effective than the county could.”

Davey said property taxes would have to make up the difference in lost reimbursement funds. He predicted that it would result in the public demanding that the state assume operation of the jails because they could no longer afford to do so locally.

Davey said a state-run jail would end up costing twice as much as a locally managed facility. Where a jail administrator such as Voyer received a $25,000 annual salary at the county level, the same job on the state payroll carried a salary of $40,000. Salaries for guards and other personnel would also increase.

“The only difference is that it would come out of the sales tax or personal income tax, not the property tax. It all comes from the same place though,” Davey said.

He predicted that pressure would mount as local tax bills started climbing.

“We still get their (the state’s) inmates but now we, the taxpayers, will have to foot the bill … Those inmates that we have will be paid for by the property tax … I feel lousy about the whole thing.”

Davey said that while the county had expected to be reimbursed $83,000 for housing state prisoners during the past quarter, the new legislation reduced that figure to $20,000. He added that only 70 percent of that figure, $14,000 could be applied to jail reimbursement. By law the remaining 30 percent must be directed to juvenile programs.

Not only was the county’s expected reimbursement reduced from $83,000 to $20,000, County Clerk Virginia Lindsey predicted that the reimbursement program could be discontinued next year.

“I would expect that we may be getting something less than $20,000, if we get even that,” Lindsey said Wednesday.

For the first three quarters of the 1991-92 fiscal year the state had reimbursed the county a total of $188,000, according Lindsey’s figures. Lindsey explained that the Department of Corrections notified the county of the change in reimbursement last month. She said the DOC had a shortfall of $1.8 million over the course of the 1991-92 fiscal year.

Lindsey said DOC was predicting a $1.6 million shortfall in fiscal year 1993.