County adopts budget with 17.3% increase

With the adoption of a budget on December 17 with $11.6 million to be raised by taxation and so far about half of the towns in the county agreeing to prepay on the estimated $8 million tax-anticipation note (TAN) that the county owes for the current year's budget, the Washington County government is taking steps to extract itself from the serious financial hole that it's in. That process, though, is coming at a cost for the municipalities and ultimately the taxpayers. While the tax-portion of the budget that was approved for 2026 is 17.3% higher than the current budget, the raising of funds from the towns to cover the TAN will mean the total cost will be nearly double the amount raised for the current county budget.

Of the budget negotiations, the chair of the county commissioners, David Burns, comments, "I think we're as close as we can be to what I would call an acceptable budget. There has to be compromise, and we reached a reasonable compromise." He says he does feel bad about the increases that the towns will pay both in the county tax and for the tax-anticipation note that the county owes. Concerning the discussions, he states, "It was a long process, and it had to be finalized."

While the original county budget proposal for the coming year called for $13.8 million to be raised from taxation, or a 40% increase, that included $1.4 million in debt service if the $11 million bond issue had been approved by voters in the November 4 election. With the bond issue failing, the budget proposal was then for $12.4 million, or a 25% increase. At its December 3 meeting, the budget advisory committee then cut $612,000, so the budget would increase 19.5%, by not filling two open patrol positions in the sheriff's office, one at the regional communications center (RCC) and one at the jail and by using a fleet management service for the sheriff's vehicles. Also, a 10% raise in salaries was reduced to a 3% cost-of-living adjustment. That budget proposal also added in approximately $100,000 for the finance department and for buildings and grounds funding, according to Brian Schuth, chair of the budget advisory committee.

On December 11 the county commissioners rejected that proposal, as they wanted more cuts made. Further changes were then made, including removing an additional patrol vacancy, which leaves the sheriff's office with 12 deputies, while adding $70,000 to change the finance director position from a part-time to a full-time job. The budget also includes $50,000 to bring in an external firm to work with the finance department so that the audits for 2022 and 2023 can be completed by next September, Schuth says. At a meeting on December 17, the commissioners voted unanimously for the new budget proposal, and the budget advisory committee voted 9-2 to accept the budget.

One of the issues was whether further cuts could be made to the sheriff's department, and Burns says, "I think the proposed cuts to the sheriff's department were not unreasonable, but we had to come to a consensus." Any more cuts could not be made by a slim majority, he feels, but rather would have needed a strong majority of the commissioners and budget committee. "We didn't have that," he notes.

Burns says that next year the commissioners will be looking at what other counties are doing with their sheriff's departments, noting that, if more emphasis is placed on law enforcement in the unorganized territories (UT), the UT funding could be used to help cover those costs. "I feel the UT gets shortchanged and we should give more attention there."

"Everybody is trying to do the best they can to make this as painless as possible," he says. Noting that Washington County is not alone among Maine's counties in having to deal with tough budget decisions, he states, "It's time all of the counties did something about this property tax."

Many towns vote to prepay on TAN

So far 21 towns, out of 44, have voted to prepay a total of $4.2 million on the TAN amount. Towns that contribute toward the TAN will not be obligated to pay any additional funds or interest for covering the amount due. Some towns have still not voted, and others will be reconsidering their previous decision not to pay. Among them are Baileyville, Milbridge, East Machias and Perry.

According to Schuth, approximately $6.8 million has been drawn on the TAN, not the previously estimated $8 million, so "we're within striking distance" of having enough funds to pay the TAN. "I feel pretty confident we'll avoid the catastrophe" of defaulting on the loan. Burns notes that there is some interest to be added to the amount drawn down, so the total owed is close to $7 million. The TAN is due to be paid to Machias Savings Bank by the middle of February, according to Burns.

Schuth notes that some towns have the funds available to prepay on the TAN, while for some smaller towns the county tax can be a significant portion of their municipal budget and "they may not have the resources to pay on the TAN."

Burns states, "We certainly appreciate any town that was in a position to pay this early. It helps with our credibility with the lending institution." But he notes that not all of the towns have the discretionary funds or are able to take out a loan to make a prepayment. "I understand it both ways," he says, adding that the TAN amount will be raised from the towns either through the prepayments on in the county tax bill.

Adding the TAN payments and the increase in the county budget for next year, the total amount that the towns will be paying is nearly double the amount that they paid for the current year. "We're paying for six years of expenditures [by the county] that were not taxed for," Schuth notes of the past accounting mistakes. "And there's still no unassigned fund balance. That will take years to build back." He adds, though, that "Washington County pays its bills, and hopefully people will pay better attention to it."

While no funds in the county budget have been misspent, as far as can be determined, Schuth states, "You don't need to have any stolen stuff for why we're in this mess. There were mistakes in taxation and double counting of carryover revenue" in previous county budgets.

Cuts to sheriff's office debated

Before the budget was passed, Sheriff Barry Curtis, in a Facebook posting, noted that the sheriff's office had offered $605,000 in savings by not filling two vacant patrol positions, one anticipated jail vacancy and one vacancy at the RCC as well as the leasing option for the patrol vehicles. While the budget committee had approved a budget that included these cuts, Curtis stated that commissioners Burns and Billy Howard wanted "to go much deeper in their cuts to the sheriff's office," including two additional patrol positions, so that there would be only 11 deputies. The sheriff also noted that the vice chair of the budget committee, Ben Edwards, had suggested cutting up to six patrol deputies. Curtis wrote, "Sheriff's deputies are the only patrol for Washington County. Deputies have handled more than 9,200 calls for service this year." The sheriff stated that "a drastic reduction in patrol will certainly force a change in the way we are able to provide coverage and service to the people of Washington County," which would include "significant delays in response to some calls and reduced hours of coverage. Deputies will be running from call to call with little or no time to investigate the crimes."

Edwards then issued a statement in response, noting that "the vast majority of people I have heard from support serious efforts to rein in county spending. Many of those voices are municipal officials from towns across Washington County who understand how rapidly rising county costs affect their own local budgets and taxpayers." While making it clear that he did not want to diminish public safety, he also noted that county budgets for many years were approved "without the level of scrutiny our current financial situation demands." He pointed out, "Over the past several years, county spending has increased at more than three times the rate of inflation. That trajectory is not sustainable."

Edwards stated, "Pressure in the budget process is not inherently a bad thing. It often leads to new thinking and new solutions -- exactly what Washington County needs right now. Avoiding difficult conversations only guarantees bigger problems down the road."

He added, "Doing nothing is not an option, and approving budgets we can't sustain is how we got here in the first place. We owe it to the people and towns of Washington County to stop the cycle of unchecked growth and build budgets that are honest, sustainable and transparent."