Lincoln and Sagadahoc County commissioners plan to meet this Thursday or Friday to hash over disagreements about cost sharing for Two Bridges Regional Jail.
The issue is a much disputed topic at most monthly multi-county Jail Authority meetings, but Lincoln County commissioners see the special session this week as a chance to settle the matter once and for all.
During their regular meeting Tuesday morning, the board denied the Sagadahoc board’s statement in a letter to the new Maine Board of Corrections about a proposal it said Lincoln County commissioners submitted.
“Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties both agree the 2008 ‘snapshot’ unfairly resulted in legislation that threatens to forever hold Lincoln County responsible for 57 percent of the Two Bridges Jail costs,” the board’s letter states. “However, the two counties differ in their opinion regarding how the inequity should be addressed.”
Members argue the two counties should have distinctly separate and stable caps like other counties in Maine.
Lincoln chairman Bill Blodgett said, “It sounds like they’re locked in cement, but like anything locked in cement, it’s got to have a little bit of flexibility.”
Sagadahoc commissioners said they had been advised about a supposed proposal from the Lincoln commissioners for the counties to continue sharing costs following a 2005 agreement to share annual operating expenses in direct proportion to the number of inmate bed days each county uses.
It would mean establishing a separate cap for the jail in the amount of the total 2008 operating cost, which would be shared between the two counties. A reduction of the counties’ individual caps would include only transport and alternative program costs, they said.
However, County Administrator John O’Connell said, “Since I’ve been here, the board hasn’t had any discussions about it. There’s no grounds for that.”
Commissioner Sheridan Bond said the Board of Corrections requires the county to submit a report by Monday to the Maine Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee.
Bond suggested totaling the combined state caps and making any adjustments internally as done at fiscal yearend before such new cap legislation. The legislation creates a cap on costs counties would pay.
The percentage set has been 57 percent for Lincoln County’s share of the $5.3 million and the remainder is for Sagadahoc to shoulder. The number of beds for each county’s inmates has been the basis for the cost-sharing percentage estimates, but actual figures at the end of the year have differed.
Often during 2008, Sagahahoc County had more inmates in the jail than Lincoln County, according to periodic Jail Authority reports.
Sagahahoc commissioners in their letter to the state board request an amendment to the LD 2080 to reallocate cost between the counties without a cumulative increase or decrease in the jail-related cap, making each county’s cap 50 percent of the total operational cost.
They argue their 50-50 proposal would achieve equity and stability and registered their opposition, thinking Lincoln County attempts to combine the notion of a “definitive, unchanging cap with an ever-changing feature of a cost sharing agreement.
In addition to what they term a “revenue neutral” cap, they seek a cap increase of $230,774 for Sagadahoc’s cap, representing its 2008 alternative sentencing program funds.
“This cap increase is necessary for Sagadahoc County to continue its contracted programs through Volunteers of America programs,” they said in their letter.
Other business
At its Monday session, the board approved the re-appointment of Commissioner Sheridan Bond and Katharine Martin-Savage to the Jail Authority for three years.
It also approved the reappointment of Richard McLean and William Post to the Mid Coast Economic Development Board for three years.
The board postponed a decision on the Bremen, Bristol, and South Bristol marine law enforcement agreement until its next meeting Tues., Jan. 20.
At the request of Rum Cove LLC, and Westport Island’s agreement, the board postponed abatement hearings scheduled Tuesday until its Tues., March 3 meeting day.
Recycling center supervisor Mike Thompson reported a total $301,628 in revenue during 2008, which Bond said helps save municipalities costs and contributes to the overall good of the county.
