County officials expressed horror at a multi-million dollar error by the state Board of Corrections at the Sept. 7 meeting of the Lincoln County Commissioners.
Lincoln County Administrator John O’Connell called the mistake “unbelievable.”
“I’m just amazed,” O’Connell said. “This is a massive mistake.”
The numbers come from the Board of Corrections (BOC) “biennial budget growth rate and budget request” to the BOC Investment Fund. According to BOC documents, the board originally approved a request for $3,522,614. Now, after the discovery of “mistakenly overstated revenues,” the request is for $9,638,135, an increase of $6,115,521 or about 274 percent.
The mistake appears to have originated in an accounting error or a mistake in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, O’Connell said.
“If it was in a real business, you’d probably lose your job,” Commissioner Sheridan Bond said.
Bond and Commissioner William Blodgett also serve on the Board of Directors of the Lincoln and Sagadahoc Multicounty Jail Authority, the governing body for Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset. The Authority meets Sept. 8, and will probably discuss the error at that time, Bond said.
Two Bridges has struggled, and continues to struggle, with budgetary issues, including conflicts with the Board of Corrections. Lincoln County has also filed a lawsuit against Sagadahoc County with regards to each county’s fiscal responsibility to the jail.
Elsewhere in corrections, the Commissioners tabled a proposal from the Maine County Commissioners Association (MCCA) to establish the Corrections Trust Authority.
According to an e-mail from Robert Howe, MCCA’s Executive Director, the Authority would “bind the counties together, in order to authorize the Authority to make decisions regarding a portion of county jail fund balances.”
In other business, the Commissioners unanimously selected Hagar Enterprises Inc., to provide snow removal services to the county.
Mike Thompson of Lincoln County Recycling reported the facility’s highest revenues of the year, at $31,977.36 for the month of August. August is usually the facility’s biggest month, as seasonal residents prepare to leave the county, Thompson said.
The Commissioners also discussed a letter from the Chairman of the Westport Island Board of Selectmen, George Richardson. According to the letter, also sent to Sen. David Trahan and Rep. Bruce MacDonald, Rt. 144, the state road to Westport Island and the only road that services much of the island, needs “immediate attention.”
Last winter, the road was “barely passable,” and residents “are aghast” to think of what the road will look like after “an additional year of deterioration,” Richardson wrote. The condition of the road has a negative effect on economic development and property values, Richardson wrote.
O’Connell agreed to draft a letter in support of Westport’s request.
