Sagadahoc and Lincoln County commissioners at least agreed last Thursday they need to come up with a cost-sharing formula they both can live with.
Commissioners debated their differing views on how it might be done after the Sagadahoc board recently jumped the gun by trying to promote its own proposal for a 50-50 measure before the new Board of Corrections (BOC).
The Sagdahoc board had wrongly believed its proposal was countering one the Lincoln board had submitted, but the Lincoln board had not submitted any. Instead, at its last board meeting, Lincoln commissioners decided to propose lumping the total cost for both counties and divvying up at the end of the year.
“These counties should be allowed to make these adjustments,” said Lincoln Board Chairman Bill Blodgett.
That met with some opposition from Board Chairman Alan Houston and Sagadahoc Administrator Pam Corrigan, who said they would rather have the percentages set by figures from the previous year.
The Sagadahoc board has complained that it would be difficult for the county if its percentage exceeds much beyond the budgeted amount.
The main problem for Sagadahoc may be its lack of any fund reserves to take care of that eventuality, which Houston said the county does not have for jail operation costs.
Before the new legislation requiring a state cap provides for expenses, the projected percentage for Lincoln County has been 57 percent of the total for the counties’ share of costs. Sagadahoc then is responsible for the balance, based on the inmate census from each county. In more recent months, however, Sagadahoc has had more inmates, thus changing the numbers.
Lincoln Commissioner Sheridan Bond argued his board’s suggestion provides incentive for diversionary programs. “It tends to keep sheriffs and the district attorney sharp,” he said.
Sagadahoc members also aired a separate concern about the need for an additional $230,000 for its cap to provide for its alternative sentencing programs. The change would require legislative action, but a consensus of the Lincoln board agreed with the need.
The boards did not reach a firmed-up agreement on everything concerning the counties’ share of the operation costs given the new state cap. Beyond the cap, the state is supposed to take care of a portion of the total annual operating costs.
Houston said his board would further discuss the cost-sharing proposal issue at its board meeting on Tuesday and prepare future joint board discussion, which both parties agreed to have.
The year-end projections for revenues from boarding fees from the two counties for Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset amount to $150,170, but the jail has budgeted $379,600 for fiscal year 2009.
Taken together with a projected drop in other inmate revenues, the jail faces a $413,540 shortfall, according to a handout distributed during a session with legislators last week.
Recently the jail administration, working in concert with the Jail Authority arrived at measures to address the shortfall and avoid staff layoffs, including increasing the number of state inmates from 23 to 60 and asking the BOC for $250,000 from the Investment Fund.
A feasibility study of the jail at its inception gave reason for a projection of 34 inmates from Lincoln County and 42 inmates from Sagadahoc County by 2011.
