In the final minutes of the Tuesday, Dec. 2 Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting, a vote was taken on the sheriff’s office budget for 2015. A budget of $2,724,898 was unanimously approved, resolving one of the final outstanding items in the county budget.
The Dec. 2 commissioners’ meeting was the last meeting held before the vote to approve Lincoln County’s 2015 budget. “The gun is in front of us to get the budget adopted,” Chairman William Blodgett said during the meeting.
The sheriff’s office had initially submitted a budget request reflecting a 10 percent increase from the previous year. The Lincoln County Budget Advisory Committee recommended a 3 percent increase.
The sheriff’s office returned to the budget committee with a budget reflecting a 4 percent increase, but the budget committee remained firm on its initial recommendation. The $145,000 difference in what Sheriff Todd Brackett had submitted and what the budget committee had approved had been whittled down to $26,000.
The commissioners voted to accept the reductions the sheriff had made and approve the budget with the 4 percent increase. Commissioner Mary Trescot suggested approving the budget for the sheriff’s office but continuing to work on it throughout the year.
Noting that the unresolved amount from the sheriff’s office was now a tiny fraction of the overall budget, Commissioner Hamilton Meserve suggested it be approved with the stipulation that a savings of $26,000 be a goal for the coming year. “We leave it up to you,” Meserve said to Brackett. “On a best-effort basis try to come up with savings this coming year.”
“This has caused me many sleepless nights,” Brackett said after the vote to adopt the budget had been taken.
In other business, the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission presented a contract services proposal from the Midcoast Economic Development District to the commissioners.
The proposal was for the district to host a series of workshops as a first step in the process of connecting municipalities in Lincoln County to the high-speed, high-capacity broadband infrastructure that exists along Route 1, also known as the three-ring binder.
Scott Benson, the district’s economic development director, spoke of the district’s success in connecting Rockport to the three-ring binder, which gave the town access to internet speeds 10-15 times faster than previously available.
“Everyone wants to be connected to the world,” said Mary Ellen Barnes, the regional planning commission’s economic and community development director. “In the old days, that meant sewer, water, and highway. Now it means broadband.”
Broadband connection could be a game changer for Lincoln County, Benson said. It would enable individuals to enjoy a rural lifestyle while still allowing them to conduct business internationally. It would also be a boost for business in the region, he said.
The district’s contract services proposal totaled $9,500 for two workshops and cooperative services. County Administrator John O’Connell said he would conduct independent research on the proposal to present to the commissioners at the next meeting.
