BANGOR – After skipping a year because of a legislative oversight, a caucus to elect six members of the Penobscot County budget committee will be held Wednesday, Sept. 28.

The budget committee has been an integral part of the budget process for years and it can approve or reject the recommendations of the Penobscot County commissioners.

But last year, the county had to reconstitute the previous year’s budget committee after learning that the state law governing the budget committee expired at the end of 2003.

Legislation passed earlier this year rectified that, re-establishing the 15-member budget committee and designating its makeup.

Each of the three Penobscot County commissioners will appoint two members and two people from each district will be elected. The remaining three members are state representatives, one from each of the county districts.

It’s the six elected seats that will be determined at the caucus to be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Penobscot County Courthouse. The election will be held in the commissioner’s meeting room, although if more space is needed, it will be moved to one of the courtrooms, Penobscot County Administrator Bill Collins said Friday.

The county budget process has already begun well in advance of the Nov. 10 deadline set for the budget committee to begin its review. It’s still a working document, according to Collins. Looking at the budget so far there are still some blank spaces waiting to be filled in.

In recent weeks, many of the county departments have met with the county commissioners to discuss their budgets, but Collins estimated that 20 percent of those departments still need to be reviewed.

“We’re under way to having the budget produced” Collins said.

There are some other uncertainties. Budget committee members will have to wrangle with rising costs at a time when municipal and county budgets face limitations placed on them by the tax reform provisions contained in LD 1 that was passed earlier this year.

Some of those anticipated higher costs aren’t in yet. Contracts for three of five employee units in the county have yet to be reached and negotiations are going to mediation. That means payroll and health care costs aren’t fully known. Factor in rising fuel costs and the added expenses that crowding at the Penobscot County Jail bring, the budget is in a state of flux.

“There are line items that we have no control over,” Collins said in explaining that the budget was still being developed.

Under the provisions of the law, budget committee members are elected for a two-year period and each year must review the budget before Nov. 30.

The committee can make revisions to the budget with a majority vote, although the commissioners can override such decisions with a unanimous vote of the three commissioners.