LINCOLN – Saying its financial situation is dire, the Lincoln Lakes Region Development Corp. is asking its 20 member communities for money.

Ideally, the communities will fund about 25 percent of the organization’s $65,000 budget, which pays the salaries of Economic Development Director Cathy Kecki, a part-time secretary and the organization’s administrative expenses, Kecki said Monday.

The money is needed because the state’s two-year grant funding the director’s position recently expired.

“It is dire. We probably would not be able to sustain another year without contributions,” said Kecki, who is paid about $25,000 annually and said she is due for a raise.

The economic development group approached Lincoln’s town government first, seeking about $1.75 per Lincoln resident, or $9,136, and now is approaching the other communities, said Joanne Gilpatrick, chairman of the corporation’s board of directors.

“All funding for 2005-2006 will now have to be received from communities and businesses in the Lincoln Lakes Region that we are available to assist,” Gilpatrick said. “It is important that all towns in the region support our efforts. All economic growth impacts each and every town in the Lincoln Lakes Region in some way.”

The organization works to attract and assist businesses in Burlington, Carroll Plantation, Chester, Drew Plantation, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Kingman, Lagrange, Lee, Lakeville, Lincoln, Lowell, Mattamiscontis Township, Mattawamkeag, Maxfield, Passadumkeag, Prentiss Township, Seboeis Plantation, Springfield, Webster Plantation, West Enfield and Winn.

The development group is working to provide all towns with a listing of how much it seeks from each town. That list is due to be sent out this week, Kecki said.

Lincoln’s Town Council likely will examine the request next month, Councilor Stephen Clay said Monday.

The council’s mood has been conservative with fiscal matters so far this year. It voted 4-1 last Monday against donating about $12,000 toward the purchase of a new ambulance for Penobscot Valley Hospital, which serves the area’s emergency medical needs.

Councilors thought that with the hospital having tax-exempt status, it should not have to ask the towns it serves for donations.

“I don’t know, to be honest with you, how I would vote on this one,” Clay said of the Lincoln Lakes’ request. “We get so many requests from organizations just as we did with the hospital. The town is not in bad financial shape, but it’s not in the best financial shape either. We get requests on a regular basis and we have to look at each one individually, but it’s a good organization.”