SKOWHEGAN – The Somerset County commissioners called a special meeting Thursday afternoon to dispel accusations by county budget committee members that the commissioners had acted illegally at their regular meeting Wednesday.

Just before the meeting, Chairman Zane Libby joked with budget committee member Phil Roy, who had made the accusations. Libby said the committee had hamstrung the commissioners, cutting the budget back too far. “You’re sitting there like a big fat toad, and if I asked you for $10 for postage stamps, you’d refuse me,” Libby said to Roy.

But if Libby’s banter was meant to be light, it quickly changed to anger once the meeting was under way.

As Roy tried to repeat his opinion that the commissioners had violated state law by shifting money into a reserve account without using the full amount to lower taxation, Libby repeatedly slammed his gavel.

“This meeting is over,” he shouted at one point, rising to his feet.

When Roy questioned Libby about a contingency fund and Libby referred to it as a surplus fund, Libby shouted at Roy, “Don’t play word games with me.”

Libby and Commissioner Joseph Bowman said they felt their actions were legal and were based on their attorney’s advice. But after Roy pressed his point further, Bowman agreed that a second review of the action should be conducted.

Libby said the review and the attorney’s findings will be discussed at the next regular commissioners’ meeting.

Roy and other budget committee members have been upset with what they are calling violations of the state law that states how commissioners shall handle the end-of-the-year surplus.

The first violation occurred when the commissioners did not meet Jan. 1 to address the surplus issue, said Roy.

“We met on the first working day,” stated Libby, when it was actually Wednesday, Jan. 3, when the board met and voted on the surplus.

Libby confirmed, however, that the commissioners had gathered at his home Jan. 1 to swear in freshman Commissioner Tracey Rotondi and Register of Probate Victoria Hatch.

“We wanted to have a wine-and-cheese party, so we did,” said Libby.

The other, more serious violation, said Roy, was the commissioners’ vote to take $150,000 from surplus to lower taxation and place $207,000 in a reserve account for jail renovations.

“The statute allows 10 percent to be kept in surplus on the first day of the new year,” explained Roy to the commissioners. The total surplus left in county coffers, according to a county balance sheet, was $536,887. Roy contends that all but 10 percent of that surplus should have been used by the commissioners to lower taxation, not be put in the reserve account.

“So, county commissioners, I duly request that you reconsider what you have done,” said Roy. He said he and budget committee Chairman D. Dwight Dogherty are seeking their own legal interpretation of the statute.

“The statute is very clear,” Roy said. “You may not agree with it, but there it is. It is not disputable.

“If you continue to do what you have done, it is an illegal act against the statute as it is written,” he said.

Commissioner Bowman said the budget committee was stepping outside its authority by bringing the funding issue before them.

“I think the budget committee is getting into control issues,” he said. “You are right on the borderline here of setting policy.” Bowman also accused the budget committee “of trying to rob our surplus.”

When Roy attempted to disagree, Libby spoke over him, repeating over and over, “That’s your translation.”

Also at the meeting, Bowman and Libby denied that they had held any improper or unannounced meetings. Both the Bangor Daily News and the Morning Sentinel of Waterville have made formal complaints to the commissioners regarding what the newspapers believe are improperly held meetings.

Libby said no votes were taken at any discussion sessions, and therefore they cannot be considered public meetings.

“We have not taken any votes,” he said. “We just find the pros and cons and vote at the next meeting. We think we are perfectly legal. We don’t hold any secret meetings. We try to stay right within the law.”

Attorney Michael Talbot sat in on the meeting because the regular attorney for the county, his partner Warren Shay, was in court. Talbot spent much of the meeting reviewing state statute books and said he would continue reviewing the issue.