Piscataquis County reviewing flat-funded 2008 budget plan

DOVER-FOXCROFT – For the third consecutive year, Piscataquis County commissioners have essentially presented a flat-funded county budget.

The county budget advisory committee got its first look Wednesday at the proposed 2008 budget of $4.5 million that represents a $64,621 increase over last year’s budget. The proposed budget is well below the county’s tax cap.

“We’re pleased that for three years in a row there will be no increase in the tax commitment,” Commissioner Tom Lizotte said Wednesday.

This is the first budget in nearly two decades that does not include a debt payment. The last payment on the jail bond was made earlier this year.

What also helps reduce the 2008 tax commitment is the county’s healthy surplus account. The county is expected to have more than $1 million in surplus. By law, the county can keep $880,000 in surplus and the excess must be used to restore contingency funds or reduce the tax commitment, according to County Manager Mike Henderson.

The county’s auditor has recommended using $65,000 from surplus to restore the contingency account to $100,000, according to Henderson. The remainder, or $229,000, would be used for tax relief, he said.

The commissioners have included funds in the proposed budget to build capital accounts. For example, $15,000 is included for a reserve account to eventually upgrade an emergency telecommunications tower on Big Moose Mountain. County officials want to replace the solar panels on the unit with a windmill. The batteries to the unit also need to be replaced.

The budget committee learned that a grandfathered provision that provides 100 percent coverage of health premiums for employees hired before July 1995 and their families, will be eliminated at the end of the 2008 fiscal year. Those employees covered under the clause will then receive 100 percent health coverage but will pay 40 percent of the premium for their dependents, which is the same percentage for employees hired after July 1995.

“We’re trying to treat everybody the same,” Commissioner Fred Trask said Wednesday

The proposed budget also includes a 3 percent cost-of-living increase for all employees.

The county’s dilemma regarding the future status of the jail was shared with the budget committee. Gov. John Baldacci wants to close four jails, which includes the Piscataquis County Jail as part of a state takeover and consolidation of jails. If the Legislature approves the plan, the closing would come in the middle of the county’s fiscal year, Henderson said.

“I think this is the first step in eliminating counties in the state of Maine,” Henderson said of the governor’s plan.

Despite the governor’s contention the jail consolidation will save money, Henderson said the county will end up paying more for a service that it does not have. Under the governor’s plan, even if the jail is closed, the county would be required each year to pay the state fees for the operation of the jails. All indications are that it would amount to about $1.4 million, which is what the county raised for the operation of the jail in 2007, according to county officials.

In addition, the county would be required to keep sections of the jail open and heated for the telecommunications department which would still be under county jurisdiction and the county would need more transport vans and corrections officers to ferry prisoners to and from court and the jail where they are incarcerated.