ELLSWORTH – Experienced officers tend to earn more than rookies, but because of less training, the 2005 cost of running the only county-funded anti-drug task force in the state could be cheaper than it will be in 2004, according to Hancock County’s top law enforcement official.

Hancock County Sheriff William Clark, meeting Tuesday with Hancock County commissioners, said that he and Ellsworth Police Chief John DeLeo have hired experienced police officers to replace the officers from their agencies who are joining the county’s new task force. This means the county will not have to reimburse the local departments for training costs

By hiring experienced people, Clark said, the county likely will save on expected training costs included in the task force’s 2004 budget of $200,000. Those savings would reduce the amount of money the county has to raise to fund the task force in 2005.

“It could be substantially less,” Clark told commissioners.

Clark came up with the idea for the task force earlier this year after area residents voiced frustration with the county’s growing drug problem and state officials said they did not have enough resources to dedicate agents to Hancock County.

The task force, which was approved earlier this month when Hancock County commissioners adopted the county’s 2004 budget, is expected to begin work Jan. 5, Clark said.

County and municipal officials have said the state should pay for the task force and hope the Legislature will agree to supply the necessary funding as soon as possible.

Clark told commissioners Tuesday that the county will have to fund the program in 2005 if it is to survive because the Legislature cannot fund the task force before 2006.

“We’re going to lobby [the Legislature] harder than we’ve ever lobbied,” Clark said.

Clark’s department and the police departments in Bar Harbor and Ellsworth each are contributing one officer to the three-person task force. Deputy Sheriff Corey Bagley, Ellsworth Officer Troy Bires and Bar Harbor Patrolman Shaun Farrar will be supervised by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in their new roles as resident drug enforcement agents.

Each department will continue to pay the salaries of the three men, but the county will reimburse each agency for the costs of hiring new officers to fill the new vacancies.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to hire Shane Campbell to fill Bagley’s former patrol position in the sheriff’s department. Campbell, a Franklin native, has served with the Farmington Police Department for the past seven years and has been its school resource officer for the past three years, Clark said.

Ellsworth Police Chief DeLeo said Wednesday that he has hired Glenn Moshier, who works for the Winter Harbor Police Department. Moshier was trained in Virginia in the late 1990s and likely will receive at least some credit for that training from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, he said.

Bar Harbor Police Chief Nate Young said Wednesday that he has not found anyone to take the slot being vacated by Farrar. He said he wants to hire someone full-time to fill the vacancy, but that how and when it will be filled will be decided as the town prepares its annual budget.