More than two months into the fiscal year, the Lincoln-Sagadahoc Multicounty Jail Authority approved a “bare-bones” budget for 2015-2016 at its Tuesday, Sept. 15 meeting. The uncertainty surrounding the state funding formula for county jails in recently enacted legislation prevented the previous development of a budget for the full fiscal year, forcing Two Bridges Regional Jail to operate on a monthly budget.
In the $6,552,524 budget unanimously adopted by the jail authority, previously incorporated revenue of $557,636 from the state, Two Bridges’ anticipated cut of the $12.2 million in state funds designated for county jails in An Act to Reverse Jail Consolidation, now Public Law 2015, Chapter 335, was not included.
The anticipated state funds were, in preliminary budgets, one of the jail’s major sources of revenue, behind Lincoln and Sagadahoc county tax dollars and Two Bridges’ contract with Waldo County. In the anticipated $6.5 million in revenue in 2015-2016, the only revenue Two Bridges expects to receive from the state is traditional Community Corrections Act funds and compensation for housing Department of Corrections inmates.
“From a policy perspective, we decided the only way to survive was to be self-sufficient,” Lincoln County Commissioner Hamilton Meserve told the Edgecomb selectmen at their meeting Monday, Sept. 14. In explaining the increase in their county tax bill, Meserve recapped the financial difficulties Two Bridges has experienced as a result of the state’s effort to consolidate the county jail system in 2008.
As a result of jail consolidation, Two Bridges Regional Jail was unable to charge the boarding rates to outside counties it had budgeted for to cover the cost of the building’s construction. The state promised to pay to help cover the costs of housing out-of-county inmates, but never did, and Lincoln and Sagadahoc County taxpayers got stuck with the bill, Meserve said.
“The counties made a mistake going in (on jail consolidation),” Meserve said to the selectmen. “Everyone knows this now.” Instead of relying on the state, Two Bridges is now looking to enter into contracts with outside counties as a solution to the financial problems that have plagued the jail since consolidation. Two Bridges signed a $1.2 million contract with Waldo County in June.
According to jail authority Chair Mark Waltz, Knox County has officially extended an invitation to Two Bridges to discuss the development of a contract for housing Knox inmates. The jail authority entered into executive session to discuss negotiations with Knox and other outside counties for housing inmates.
Despite tax dollars composing the lion’s share of revenue for Two Bridges, there will be no increase for Lincoln County taxpayers, according to the adopted 2015-2016 budget. While legally able to increase the amount raised from taxpayers to $2,657,105, Lincoln County’s contribution to Two Bridges Regional Jail will remain $2,420,839, the same as the previous fiscal year.
For the first time, the budget relied on the jail’s operating reserve account and will draw $83,916 from the reserve of approximately $250,000. The adopted budget balances an anticipated $6.5 million in revenue perfectly with the $6.5 million in expenditures, leaving not even a dollar in wiggle room.
The $6.5 million budget for 2015-2016 is a 4.89 percent decrease from the previous year’s budget of $6,873,176. The 2015-2016 budget is approximately equal to Two Bridges Regional Jail’s 2007-2008 budget, authority members said.
Before the budget had been adopted, however, the authority was already considering an unanticipated expenditure. Correct Care Solutions, Two Bridges Regional Jail’s health care provider, is asking for an additional $54,712 from the jail to cover the cost of staffing overages.
Two Bridges Regional Jail and Androscoggin County Jail jointly entered into a three-year contract with Correct Care Solutions to provide medical services to the jails as a cost-saving measure. Due to staffing issues, Correct Care Solutions never properly staffed Two Bridges and relied on registered nurses to pass meds.
The reliance on higher-paid employees to perform duties that could have been performed by a lower-paid position resulted in overages to the approximately $500,000 contract, administrator Col. Mark Westrum said. Correct Care Solutions believes Two Bridges is responsible for covering those costs. Westrum said he felt differently.
Westrum proposed a counter-offer of $0.25 to the dollar of the $54,712 Correct Care Solutions was asking for to avoid legal complications, due to language in the contract, which addressed overages due to staffing. The language addressed overages due to vacation and sick time, not everyday overages created by staffing issues, Westrum said.
The jail authority voted to offer Correct Care Solutions an amount based on projected overages from staff’s vacation and sick time, which jail officials anticipate will be less than $0.25 on the dollar of what the company is currently asking for.
The contract with Correct Care Solutions expires in March, jail officials said.
