Vote on Somerset County jail delayed until officials meet with Gov. Baldacci

SKOWHEGAN – While still upset with Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal to take over the state’s county jail system, Somerset County commissioners decided Wednesday night to wait until after they meet with the governor to decide whether to halt construction on the new jail in Madison.

The commissioners are threatening to halt construction on the jail because they said a state takeover would leave county taxpayers $50 million in debt.

Revenues from boarding state and federal prisoners would have offset the debt and interest on the jail, as well as some of the operating costs, according to Philip Roy, chairman of the commissioners.

The jail is 25 percent complete, with $5 million worth of construction already completed and another $13 million in supplies and services committed.

Although Roy urged his fellow commissioners to send a strong message to Baldacci, they voted Wednesday to wait until after a planned meeting with Baldacci on Monday afternoon to make a final decision.

“This will bankrupt Somerset County,” Roy said. Although the jail project passed by just 12 votes in a countywide referendum last year, Roy said, the county has been committed to an efficient, economic project.

“Sheridan Corporation has been amazing. They are under budget and ahead of schedule,” Roy said. But the reality, he added, is that without the revenue expected by boarding out-of-county prisoners to offset the debt, the county will be left to absorb the $50 million cost.

He likened the situation to a military takeover. “It would be like taking out a mortgage on your home and then having the state evict you. But, you still have to make the mortgage payments,” he said. “It’s crazy.”

Roy said the state has been unable to provide him with any documentation that its plan will save money.

Last Friday, the commissioners cited the state Freedom of Access Law and demanded from the Governor’s Office all documentation of the jail takeover process.

On Wednesday, they were provided with five pages of paperwork. It included a map indicating where current jails are, a map showing the consolidated system, a graph comparing the growth of state prison expenses as compared with county jail expenses, and a chart that indicates the state could save $37.6 million with consolidation, excluding current debt.

Roy called the documentation “woefully insufficient” and contended that the state’s claims of saving money would be achieved at the expense of county taxpayers.

“This is a military takeover disguised as a tax cut,” he said. “This governor thinks he can drive over municipal and county officials. He is driving over school officials right now. We need to send a strong message. If the governor wants to knock on our jail door, he better bring his checkbook. We will not allow him to steal our jail.

“This is hard, oh, so hard,” Commissioner Lynda Quinn said after hearing an appeal by the jail contractor, Sheridan Corp. of Fairfield, to keep the project running. “These are Somerset County residents that we would put out of work. No one wins here.

“But I am not going to give that jail to the governor,” she said. “It is just not right.”

Sheridan attorney John Lambert told the commissioners that it could take weeks to close down the site. “There are risks and consequences of a delay,” he said. “What we have out in the public domain is simply a concept. There is absolutely no link between completing the jail and losing control,” he said. “Finishing the jail is still a policy goal of yours. The reality is, the state will assume the debt.”

All three commissioners disagreed.

Roy said that at a meeting last week between the state Department of Corrections, commissioners and sheriffs, he was told that “if we make waves, the governor will sign an executive order to take over the jails. They made it very clear that the state doesn’t have the money to buy these jails. The governor has put us in a very sticky situation.”

The commissioners plan to meet with Baldacci at his office in Augusta at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10. The commissioners plan to vote on the jail closure move at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11.