FARMINGTON – Commissioners unanimously supported the recommendations of the budget committee and approved a $5 million budget Monday morning. Local assessments to pay for the budget are expected to rise more than $430,000, primarily on falling revenues.
The budget is up 2.8 percent from the current fiscal year, increasing to $5,043,638 following some minor corrections by county administrators after Thursday’s three-hour budget committee meeting. The committee approved moving elected employees onto the pay scale, to give them credit for their long-standing employment with the county, as well as all non-union employees a 2 percent cost-of-living increase. They also increased the commissioners’ recommended funding for two programs, Western Maine Community Action and Threshold to Maine, by a total of $7,750. All in all, the committee’s budget was roughly $20,000 above the one recommended by commissioners.
County Treasurer Karen Robinson said that a 2.8 percent increase in the budget was not unreasonable, but that a lack of revenue would increase the impact of the budget upon the taxpayers. Specifically, the county’s undesignated fund is down to $600,000, which is less than the $1 million recommended by the auditor. Therefore, no funds will be released from the fund to reduce the tax burden. So, while external, projected revenues are up $56,000 from those raised in the current fiscal year, the total revenue line is down a little less than $300,000.
The projected assessment for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is $4,587,038, an increase of $436,199.
Commissioners also approved increasing the LD1 limit to $4,587,038, rather than voting to exceed it as they had done in past years. Robinson noted that with the loss of Franklin County Detention Center revenue and other changes to the budget, meeting the old, smaller limit was not realistic.
In other business, commissioners approved the hiring of Nathan Reid as a full-time deputy. Reid has worked as a patrol officer in both Farmington and Wilton, having previous experience as a corrections officer.
