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The Kennebec County budget, a small part of property tax bills that provides valuable services, has increased again this year, after a large increase last year. What’s the best way to provide services while fairly treating county employees? Of the $25.5 million total budget, 81% ($20.
7 million) is for law enforcement and corrections. The remaining 19% ($4.8 million) is for all other departments, such as: Kathryn Mills Woodsum is secretary of the Kennebec County Budget Committee and chair of the Readfield Select Board.
• The Registry of Deeds (which covers its costs with fees), where all legal property documents are recorded and stored and will soon be available via an updated software platform. • The Probate Court, which handles wills and child custody issues. • Emergency Management, which provides planning for disasters and assistance when they occur.
• Facility and Vehicle Maintenance, which cares for all the Sheriff’s and Corrections vehicles, and six county buildings, two that over 120 years old. Large amounts of building repairs and upgrades were made using American Rescue Plan Act funds and insurance proceeds for storm damages, which reduced the capital needs in the budget. These departments provide critical services to all county residents and employment to a fine group of dedicated workers.
The 81% is spread out over several departments. The District Attorney’s Office comprises 6% ($1.7 million) of the county budget to prosecute all criminal and civil violations county-wide with 12 prosecutors and 15 staff handling 4,800 cases last year.
They’ll upgrade data storage software this year that will seamlessly integrate with bodycam footage, providing real-time information and unlimited data storage. The Sheriff’s Office is more complex, with 44 sworn positions and four administrative positions comprising 20% ($5 million) of the county budget and responding to 19,699 calls last year. Nine officers perform state roles, 22 officers are in the Patrol Division, one serves papers of various kinds and 11 are detectives, the sheriff and chief deputy.
This year we have funded the first body cams for the Patrol Division. These county officers are the lowest-paid of all counties in Maine. Without a boost next year, some will be gone.
Still more complex is the correctional facility, with 55% ($14 million) of the county budget needed to meet constitutional and state-mandated programs to provide humane housing and medical and mental health services. Built in 1859, added on to in 1992 and updated in 2007, up to 166 of the county’s most dangerous and unhealthy men and women are housed daily. The 78 county and 24 vendor employees average 2,100 committals annually, provided 105 hospital visits last year requiring two officers and a vehicle and are the third lowest paid in all counties of Maine.
Retention will be an issue without wage increases. This year we have funded six additional correctional officer positions to effectively and safely staff the jail, with hopes of decreased overtime as many officers regularly work double shifts. Most of the folks working in these three departments provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
They perform these jobs, which are extremely difficult and often times dangerous, admirably and with dedication. They deserve to work reasonable hours and be compensated fairly. State-mandated inmate drug treatment costs have risen dramatically, yet the state only plans to partially fund them.
State bills LD 852 and LD 719 request that the state to fund a more reasonable level of county jail costs rather than passing these mandated costs to the local property taxpayer through the county budget. Passage would allow the county to properly fund their services and the local towns and cities to more fairly assess property tax. In any case, we will need to provide more funds for county employees in the next budget.
Your help in addressing your state representatives and senators for more funding via the above two bills is critically needed. We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way.
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