Budget committee approves $6.21 million budget

FARMINGTON – The Budget Committee unanimously approved a $6.21 million budget Wednesday evening, incorporating approximately $20,000 of stipends for non-union employees. Commissioners set the tax commitment earlier this morning.

The $6,215,668 budget, which includes expenditures for both general county operations as well as the Franklin County Detention Center, is up from last year’s $5.88 million budget. The bulk of that increase will cover rising personnel lines and inmate medical costs, although county officials do anticipate incorporating $187,000 in revenue from the state’s Jail Operations Fund to help offset the cost. Expenditures not associated with the jail are up approximately $20,000 from the previous fiscal year.

The committee approved series of small, department-by-department increases proposed by commissioners to cover the combined costs of stipends for non-union employees. Those stipends consist of $250 for part-time, non-union employees, $500 for full-time employees with fewer than five years experience with the county and $750 for full-time employees with more than five years experience with the county. That stipend applies to both elected and appointed county employees.

In exchange, non-union employees agreed to limit the amount of accrued personal time off/earned time the county would have to purchase if the individual should leave the county’s employ. Previously, county employees could accrue up to 1,200 hours of earned time/personal time off, with Franklin County obliged to purchase those hours at 60 percent of the employee’s wage upon their retirement or resignation. Due to the longstanding nature of many individuals’ employment, this represented hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential costs for the county.

The agreement would cap the amount of earned time/PTO the county would need to pay off at 480 hours. The compensation rate would drop to 30 percent for employees with more than five years of experience and maintain the 60 percent rate for employees with more than 10 years of experience.

The combined cost of the stipends was $19,250, although there was also a slight, associated increase in Federal Insurance Contributions Act contributions and worker’s compensation.

The budget includes a series of cuts to Programs & Grants, third-party agencies that previously received a set amount of funding through the county. A total of $209,000 in requests were reduced by more than two-thirds, with Adult Education, Greater Franklin Development Council, Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Services and Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice receiving no funding. Most other organizations had their funding reduced.