Baldacci firm at meeting on jails Somerset County trio disappointed

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci essentially told the three Somerset County commissioners Monday afternoon that they either could get on board with the state’s jail takeover plan or get out of the way.

“You can do whatever you want in Somerset County,” he said. “If you want to close the jail, close the jail. Our plan does not need the Somerset County Jail in order to operate. We have to push ahead with a unified system.”

The commissioners asked for the meeting with the governor to clarify whether or not the state would assume the debt for a new $30 million jail if the state takes over all county jails next year. The commissioners have been considering halting construction to avoid having the county left with the full debt load.

During the tense half-hour meeting, commissioner Chairman Phil Roy, accompanied by Commissioners Lynda Quinn and Robert Dunphy, agreed to postpone any decision on stopping the construction until Sept. 19, giving themselves time to examine the state’s proposal further.

After the meeting, however, the three commissioners said they fully intended to vote to stop construction. “We are spending $1 million a day now,” Roy said. If the jail were closed today, the county has estimated it would owe $15 million already spent on construction and another $1.6 million in shutdown costs.

The trio explained to Baldacci that after the Somerset County Jail was condemned by the state, a new $30 million facility was begun at the state’s direction. Once completed, the jail should cost $50 million, including interest.

But the county was expecting that revenue for boarding prisoners from other counties and federal agencies would completely cover the jail’s debt payments as well as day-to-day operational costs.

If the state’s proposal goes through, the jail would be absorbed into a state-controlled system and the county taxpayers would be left with $50 million of debt with no revenue to help pay for it, according to the commissioners.

“We in Somerset County are in crisis,” Roy told Baldacci. “We have the second-lowest wage per capita in the state. We are the poorest county in Maine. And here we are, building a $50 million jail without the revenues. This will bankrupt Somerset County.”

Roy said the commissioners were looking for assurances that if the state goes forward with its jail consolidation plan, it will absorb Somerset County’s debt.

“Your proposal leaves Somerset County with a debt payment of $5 million a year without any revenues to pay it back,” Roy said. “Make us whole and assume the debt.”

Baldacci countered that the county’s portion of state taxes to support jails would be capped and that the state already is operating its correctional facilities at a more efficient rate than the individual counties.

Roy fired back that he questioned the governor’s statistics. He said that the rate of growth for the state facilities did not include health insurance, retirement costs or the construction debt incurred by the counties.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson said he felt the figures presented by the state were very conservative and that the county was reacting prematurely.

“We are working on a full response [detailing the plan] to present to all the counties,” he said. “There are four or five counties looking at construction.” Magnusson said those jails could cost individual county taxpayers $95 million by 2013. “If we merge, there will be no need for any of that construction,” he said. “We are willing to come out and work with each county.”

Magnusson said it was “extremely premature to stop construction” of the Somerset County Jail. “You will lose $16 million. A few months from now, you may be in a much better position.”

When state Sen. Peter Mills, who represents Somerset County, attempted to tell the governor that the county was in a unique situation because the jail construction had been mandated by the state, Baldacci cut him off. “I am not going to have a debate,” he said. “My plan does not hinge on Somerset County.”

But, the governor added, “we need to work together. We need to discuss the financial issues with all the counties and we need a single, unified system. We will not give ground. Nothing can happen until the Legislature meets in January. What we have now are conversations and discussions and an outline. Our state yearns for tax relief. It makes no sense for a jail system in this century to operate this way.”

After the hearing, Mills and the commissioners said they were bitterly disappointed.

“[Baldacci] basically danced around the issue. We were not given a whole lot of direction,” said Roy. “We will meet on [Wednesday, Sept. 19] and make a decision. That will give us some time to think.”

Roy concluded, “Talk is cheap and we’re spending $1 million a day. We’re in trouble. We don’t want to shut down the jail, but we may not have a choice.”

Mills said, “I had expected a little more amicable meeting. This new jail is being built at the state’s instigation. In the end, it is the right thing to do. To be told that it is not needed is very hard to hear.”