Piscataquis County budget figures reviewed

DOVER-FOXCROFT – For a brief period Monday night, it appeared that the mill rate to support Piscataquis County government in 2005 would decrease from $1.82 to $1.77 per $1,000 valuation.

But that announcement to the Piscataquis County budget advisory committee Monday was quickly revised to an increase in the mill rate when County Treasurer Donna Hathaway noticed county officials had budgeted the county’s entire estimated surplus to reduce the tax commitment.

State law allows county officials to retain a percentage of surplus to maintain the county’s cash flow and for critical contingencies, and traditionally the county has held back the equivalent of 10 percent of the budget appropriations, Hathaway explained. Without that cushion, the county would have to rely on large tax anticipation notes.

As such, the projected $532,141 in surplus applied on paper to reduce the tax commitment was revised Monday to an estimated figure of $157,969. If that surplus figure is correct, the mill rate would increase from $1.82 to $2.02 per $1,000, it was noted.

A corrected version of the draft budget will be provided to committee members in time for their meeting next week.

Aside from the discrepancy in the surplus amount, the proposed budget reflects a 5.8 percent increase in expenditures. That increase covers, among other things, a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase for all employees. In addition to the cost-of-living increase, wage adjustments are proposed for nonunion employees whose wages have fallen behind union employees. Appointed or elected officials are budgeted for a 5 percent increase, the same increase given last year, part of a two-year plan to close the gap between unionized and nonunionized wages. Nonunion department heads are budgeted to receive a 3.3 percent increase, the second year of a three-year schedule.

The proposed budget draft also includes a 15 percent increase for health insurance and the increase of a part-time domestic violence investigator to full time. The investigator would work part time for the district attorney and part time for the Sheriff’s Department. No other new positions are included in the budget in view of the November vote on a proposed tax cap.