/

Commissioners send final budget recommendation to committee

8 mins read
Commissioner Gary McGrane of Jay, left, and Commissioner Charlie Webster of Farmington.
Commissioner Gary McGrane of Jay, left, and Commissioner Charlie Webster of Farmington.

FARMINGTON – The County Commissioners made four changes to the $6.1 million budget approved by the Franklin County Budget Committee on June 23, for a total increase of $13,458. The committee will vote on those alterations at its final meeting this summer.

According to procedure, the committee approves a county budget which is submitted to the commissioners, who may vote unanimously to make alterations. Those changes may be reversed by the committee with a two-thirds majority vote.

As proposed by the commissioners, the  $4,222,984 county budget and $1,891048 jail budget would combine for an approximate $300,000 increase over the current fiscal year. The bulk of the increase, $270,000, is represented in a jail budget that had previously been frozen at $1.62 million after the facility closed as a full-time jail back in 2009.

With the additional $13,500 added to the budget by commissioners, the county budget would be under the LD1 cap by more than $76,000. That does not include the jail, which operates under a separate cap.

Commissioners Gary McGrane of Jay and Charlie Webster of Farmington voted unanimously to make one reduction in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office budget and three increases, all in the Program Grants section.

The decrease for the FCSO budget relates to a new, one-year contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, representing the patrol deputies, which was approved by commissioners Thursday morning. That contract includes a shift in healthcare plans that is expected to save the county $16,542. The contract has no Cost of Living Adjustment this year, although it does include a $900 signing bonus for deputies. The office’s corporal positions would become sergeants, with those altered positions including an increased salary.

Commissioners moved to reduce the impacted budget line $16,542. The healthcare change will take effect on Aug. 1.

Commissioners unanimously increased funding to three programs a combined $30,000. Tri-County Mental Health had requested $20,000, been funded originally by commissioners at $10,000 and then been cut to $0 by the committee on June 23. Commissioners moved to fund it at $5,000. In offering the motion, Webster said he would support the $5,000 to provide advance notice to the agency that it should no longer anticipate county funding going forward.

“At some point we need to look at what’s the function of county government and what isn’t,” Webster said. He noted that some at the budget committee meeting had expressed support in phasing out funding rather than cutting it all at once, and said he agreed with that approach.

McGrane supported the $5,000, although said he believed that the county’s funding of the program grants allowed the agencies to leverage federal and state funds for county residents. Selectman and Budget Committee member Stephan Bunker said that cuts to many of the agencies would eventually chase recipients back around to the municipal governments and their General Assistance accounts.

Webster and McGrane moved to increase Western Maine Community Action’s funding by $3,000 to $33,000, the same amount the agency had been funded at in the 2015-16 fiscal year. WMCA had requested $40,000 and had been funded at that amount by the commissioners, then reduced to $30,000 by the committee.

Greater Franklin Development Council’s funding was increased from $20,000, as proposed by the committee, to $42,000. GFDC had requested $60,000, half of which is provided by the county’s tax increment financing funds, and was funded at $42,000 by commissioners prior to being reduced to $20,000 by the committee on June 23.

The four changes, totaled together, result in a $13,458 increase to the budget approved by the committee on June 23. The committee will need to convene and vote upon the four changes, with a two-thirds majority required to overrule the commissioner’s changes. On June 23, the Tri-County Mental Health budget was set with a 6 to 2 vote; the WMCA budget was set with a 7 to 1 vote; and the GFDC budget was set with a 5 to 3 vote.

The commissioners further discussed the impact of the budget upon county operations in the next fiscal year. The committee opted not to include money for a 2 percent Cost of Living Adjustments for all non-union employees and officials, setting each department’s budget slightly lower than commissioner recommendations. Webster asked whether commissioners could still change salaries as long as they stayed within the overall county budget and asked County Clerk Julie Magoon to research budgetary adjustments that could be made to allow a 2 percent increase. If every non-union employee and official, elected or non-elected, received the 2 percent increase, it would equate to an expenditure of approximately $25,000.

On June 23, funds were removed from the county Emergency Management Agency’s budget that would have gone toward a new truck. FCEMA Director Tim Hardy said that the truck could still be purchased through a combination of a reserve account, Unorganized Territory funds and a grant money from Maine Emergency Management Agency. The truck would likely be put out for bid along with FCSO vehicles.

In the Franklin County Communications budget, Director Stanley Wheeler had asked for funds to go toward the down payment on a five-year, lease-to-purchase agreement for a new communications console in the dispatch center. The console down payment would have been $17,550 out of the county budget and a similar amount out of the TIF.

The new console is configured for Radio-Over-Internet Protocol, which the dispatch center intends to use in a bid to improve coverage throughout the county. The existing console is 10-plus years old, Wheeler said, and while it is currently still offered by Motorola, he was concerned that it would not be for much longer. While support for discontinued devices was extended seven years after discontinuation, Wheeler said, replacement parts were not necessarily available.

Reviewing the 2015-16 expenditures year-to-date left the communications budget with enough funding to cover the $17,000 down payment. Commissioners approved transferring communications department funds for the purpose of the making the console payment, completing the Mosher Hill tower project and covering potential increases associated with union negotiations for that department.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 Comments

  1. So the two commissioners present (truly sorry for your loss Clyde and Lois) decided to ignore the budget committees work and make a “slight increase” to the county budget. They quite likely also have not considered the impact of the “slight 143 Million dollar” decrease to the town of Jays’ valuation to the rest of the county. I do understand the issues the county faces. But, having been on the regional radio committee for a long time (I took the minutes/notes and distributed them for many years) I am very disappointed that the exact same communication issues that existed thirty plus years ago have not been corrected, even though we have thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars at them. Yes, most of this money has been Federal and State grants, but it is still taxpayer dollars. The commissioners, dispatch center and the folks that try to run the county from Farmington need to listen to the emergency responders from the north end. Buy all of the new consoles you want, but when you can’t talk on the radio during an emergency from Strong, Freeman, Madrid or Phillips to dispatch Farmington we have some major issues. Strange that the State Police and CMP have figured it out.

  2. How many people does $1,891,048 jail budget employ and is there a return on our investment? Does having a jail in our community make fiscal sense? Are we prepared to pay more when the Gov cuts Sate revenue funding for county jails? Respect to the Sheriff and his deputies but is the jail a rational need for this community if people are concerned about their property taxes and low income?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.