We can’t think of a more difficult job in Maine public service right now than that of overseeing county corrections.
Faced with reconciling the day to day challenges of the task, beset with budget shortfalls, restricted by onerous legislation and an antagonistic chief executive, it is truly a Sisyphean task.
Things are a mess right now and they have been for quite some time, not just because the counties are capped by law at what they can levy in taxes for corrections, but because the state has never met its own funding obligations.
The problem is reaching critical mass now because the board of corrections, revamped by the Legislature just last year in order to be more effective, is now effectively crippled for the lack of a quorum.
Until last week when Waldo County Commissioner and board of corrections member Amy Fowler resigned, the five-person board operated with three members, primarily because Gov. LePage has refused to appoint two representatives to the board until the counties agree to cede control of local corrections.
We don’t quite understand his thinking, but we do understand clearly the heart of the dispute revolves around control of the $62 million of local tax dollars the counties are allowed to raise for corrections.
Governor LePage is actually a more accomplished chief executive than he is generally given credit for, but we think he is off base on this one.
There are certainly efficiencies to be gained by consolidation, but the governor, of all people, should be aware that all too often, local and county governments are far more effective at squeezing six cents out of every nickel than the state.
That may not be necessarily true in the state’s bigger municipalities. We can’t speak for them, but it is certainly true here in Lincoln County.
