By Abigail W. Adams
From left: State legislators Rep. Stephanie Hawke R-Boothbay Harbor, Jeffrey Evangelos, I-Friendship, and Sen. Chris Johnson, D-Somerville, at the Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset Dec. 17. (Abigail Adams photo) |
Three state legislators gathered at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset Wednesday, Dec. 17 to tour the facility and learn about budgetary issues that have plagued the
facility since the consolidation of the county jail system in 2008.
The tour has been given annually to educate new legislators about the county jail system. This year, however, the tour had special significance. State legislators
are currently considering a supplemental budget request for the Maine Board of Corrections.
There is also speculation that a bill will be introduced in the upcoming legislative session to eliminate the Maine Board of Corrections.
“We’re in for a bad road here,” Col. Mark Westrum, correctional administrator of Two Bridges, said to Sen. Chris Johnson, D-Somerville, Rep. Stephanie Hawke, R-
Boothbay Harbor, and independent Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, of Friendship.
Two Bridges Regional Jail was built as a joint effort between Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties in 2004. A $24.6 million bond was taken out to fund construction of the
facility – Lincoln and Sagadahoc County property owners bear the brunt of that bond’s repayment.
In 2008, the consolidation of the county jail system forced Two Bridges to open its doors to inmates from across the state. The Maine Board of Corrections was
created, in part, to distribute state funds to county jails to subsidize the budget shortfalls created by the increase of inmates.
Those fund disbursements, however, have been inconsistent. Westrum explained to legislators that for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014, which ended in July, Two
Bridges was almost unable to make its payroll.
Gov. Paul LePage was unsympathetic and refused to submit a supplemental budget request to the Legislature. Westrum circumvented LePage and spoke directly to the
Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, which released an additional $1.2 million for the county jail system.
If it had not been for those supplemental funds, Westrum said, he would not have been able to pay Two Bridges staff. The situation is repeating itself in fiscal year
2015.
Two Bridges’ operating budget for fiscal year 2015 is $6.87 million. The jail is depending on approximately $1.89 million from the board of corrections to meet its
budgetary obligations. There is concern, however, that the board of corrections will not be able to make full payments for the third and fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, set
to begin in January and April.
“The board of corrections can only send out the money that the Legislature gives them to send,” Westrum said. “If the money isn’t there, we have a crisis looming.”
There is currently a $2.2 million supplemental budget request before the Legislature to help county jails get “over the hump” of the third and fourth quarter,
Westrum said.
“There is money,” Evangelos said. “We ended last year with a surplus. Don’t let them tell you that they don’t have the money. Don’t let them buffalo you on that.”
Even if the money is there, however, the board of corrections will not necessarily provide Two Bridges with its budgeted quarterly payments. If jail operations come
in under budget, the board of corrections only provides a partial payment and holds on to the surplus.
“If our spending is less than what we budgeted for,” Westrum said in a separate interview, “they will only give us what we need to get by by the skin of our teeth.”
Westrum has already trimmed eight positions from Two Bridges to keep the operating budget low. However, those efforts have had the unintended consequence of lowering
the payments disbursed from the board of corrections.
“You get penalized for doing a good job,” Westrum said about balancing the budget. “It makes me scratch my head. What’s the incentive?”
Despite being forced to house inmates from across the state, Two Bridges is given no state funding for bond payments. It also is not allowed to hold on to any
surplus from its operating budget for capital improvement projects.
The majority of inmates held at Two Bridges are from outside Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties. However, Lincoln and Sagadahoc County taxpayers are responsible for
maintaining the building and funding its construction.
“We’re subsidizing other counties with our tax dollars,” Westrum said. “We’re dealing with a lot of other counties’ issues. That’s why we feel so strongly that we
should be getting help with our debt services.
“Also, with capital improvement … we should be able to hold on to any surplus in the operating budget for capital improvement. Give me some breathing room so I can
make sure this place is maintained.”
Auditors consistently point to the severely underfunded capital improvement account at Two Bridges as an issue. Westrum’s focus for the limited resources at Two
Bridges, however, is safety.
“It’s getting harder and harder to figure out how to run these places safely,” Westrum said. “We don’t want to make the same mistake as other counties where we build
a nice facility and then don’t maintain it and let it crumble.”
Westrum, however, has had to shift the resources available to him to staffing the floors.
“It’s underfunded,” Lincoln County Commissioner William Blodgett said to the legislators. “It’s simply underfunded.”
Blodgett is responsible for organizing the annual tour of Two Bridges for state legislators. The tour takes place at the beginning of every legislative session to
help educate new legislators about the issues faced by county jails.
“It’s very confusing,” Blodgett said. “We have a number of new legislators every year and they are generally unaware of the situation in the jails.”
“We’re proud of what we have here,” Westrum said. “It just doesn’t feel right that we don’t get compensated to the extent that we need to.”
