FARMINGTON – County commissioners reviewed proposed expenditures at a meeting held earlier this week in advance of next Wednesday’s review by the county’s budget committee.
Commissioners advanced $4.58 million in county expenditures and $2.25 million to fund the Franklin County Detention Center, an increase over last year’s combined budget of approximately $6.75 million. The budget will be next reviewed by a committee made up of representatives from Franklin County towns. That committee’s budget can be changed by unanimous votes of all three commissioners and the committee gets a final chance to review the budget and override commissioner changes with a two-thirds majority vote.
Disagreements between the committee’s and commissioners’ budget resulted in not all of last year’s appropriation being expended: included within the $6.75 million figure is a 3 percent cost of living increase approved by the committee; commissioners later approved a 2 percent cost of living increase for non-union employees and a 1 percent increase for elected officials. Similarly, the committee approved roughly $40,000 for Western Maine Community Action and Western Maine Transportation, nonprofit organizations that two commissioners had been phasing out of the county budget. Unless earmarked for a specific purpose or held in a reserve account, funds left over at the end of the fiscal year lapse to the Undesignated Fund. Those funds can be used to reduce the impact of the budget on the local assessments; last year, commissioners approved using $150,000 for that purpose.
On Tuesday, commissioners voted to support a 1 percent increase for most nonunion workers, with Commissioners Terry Brann of Wilton and Charlie Webster of Farmington voting in favor and Commissioner Clyde Barker of Strong in opposition. The 1 percent increase does not apply to the Judge of Probate, the director of the communications center, emergency management agency personnel lines or the commissioner positions themselves.
The budget includes 3 percent increases for corrections officers and dispatchers, as previously negotiated between the county and those bargaining groups. The county is continuing to negotiate with the Fraternal Order of Police, representing sheriff’s office personnel – that contract expires in June.
A new expenditure in the budget is $30,000 – split between the communications center, jail and sheriff’s office – to improve the drainage in the parking lot area on County Way. Water pooling in the area was able to penetrate at least one buried line over last winter, resulting in an issue involving the non-911 line at the Franklin County Regional Communications Center. Other new lines include $20,000 for a reserve account to help pay for new Franklin County Sheriff’s Office hires that recently attended the Maine Criminal Justice Academy while working for a different law enforcement agency; the payment goes to the hire’s former department.
Approved in the Program Grants section is $23,700 for two organizations: $20,000 for Franklin County Soil & Water and $3,700 for the Franklin County Firemen’s Association.
The budget committee will meet on Wednesday, May 20 at 5:30 p.m. To follow crowd restrictions, only the budget committee members and the county’s IT manager are expected to be in attendance; department heads and members of the public will call utilize a conference call to communicate with the committee.
i currently sit on the county budget comittee, I have asked for 2 specific reports which will show the full pay for all county employees and the budget lines they are paid from to get to that total. The payroll warrants just say “payroll with a lump sum” initially four days ago I was denied the items via phone so I asked who the county FOIA officer was so I could FOIA them, when recapping the conversation in a email Julie magoon indicated that her and Vickie Braley would be working on these requests for me no mention now of needing to FOIA the information. Yesterday when following up Vickie Braley stated she has been ordered not to work on these reports by her supervisor Julie Magoon. When i called Julie to find out what was going on, she said there is a 10 o’clock meeting with an attorney to determine if I could get that information. As of today there has still been no word on if this payroll information will be provided, or kept a secret.
With the pandemic this year we cant afford tax increase’s, and it’s important we keep them to a minimum.
The comittee can only approve the sums as line items but you really need the full picture so you can approve the necessary funds in the budget for commisioners to run the county.
Wow, this is almost a 1 million dollar increase? I though the conservative county commissioners were here to reduce taxes not increase them? ( kind of a joke because the budget has increased every year even with the rhetoric of “I work for the tax payer”) I guess the heart wants what the heart wants and people will say the opposite if it makes them look good. Where are all the people who are angry about the school budget on this county budget? Thank you Travis for doing the job you where elected to do! Calling an Attorney over public access to payroll for pubic positions? Why? I thought all pay rates for public positions were public domain? Teachers, fire, police, sheriffs, town/ county workers…. That’s how we keep public positions honest because public officials are not running a business they are managing public services with our taxes.
Nicely said Travis Pond.
Thank you Travis. Any line in any budget paid for by taxpayers is public information. Keep up the good work.
Typically, the presence of lawyers indicates there is some level of shadiness going on.
Federal and state leaders failed to plan adequately for a pandemic, a traumatic ritual for all citizens. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult, always absorbing, never giving and never being satisfied?
The voice of this taxpaying citizen implores those members of the county budget committee and the county commissioners to
hear taxpaying families and businesses that have lost income during this crisis. Local budgets will have to be balanced on our backs. States and municipalities cannot run deficits so they must make cuts when revenues collapse.
Uncertain times deep in the backwoods of Maine require a transparent confidence to do more with less and generously give of ourselves by volunteering to reduce, reuse and recycle. Well planned maintenance today, saves money later. Drops make buckets.
We must reset our expectations of what we can afford, how we SAVE for our priorities, not further tax and spend. We must overhall our budgets, prioritize funding for core services and reflect our new ECONOMIC REALITY.
I am grateful to the commissioners and the budget committee members for generously giving of themselves and ask that you kindly and prudently respect the citizens’ situation and practice fiscal responsibility. REDUCE THAT BUDGET!
I’d like to make clear the conversation I had with Travis Pond on Friday. His comment omitted and does not address why I was withholding the reports. I told him that I was not releasing the requested payroll reports because I was concerned they contained private and confidential employee information. I said I would be checking with the County’s attorney on the issue. The County attorney agreed that the reports contain confidential information. The County will provide the information he has requested but in a different format.
Samo,
I believe the increase is only $80,000 over last year. In paragraph 2 add the two figures together, 4.58+2.25
Million dollars = $6.83 million. Last year was $6.75 million for the two. So, that will give us an increase of
$80,000 for the year. The commissioners have been very frugal with our money and they take alot of heat
For it from the folks that like to spend our hard earned tax dollars on every possible thing. I myself would
Like to see them find some savings somewhere and keep it flat this year. We’ll see how it plays out soon.
Having done construction work my whole life, i can’t understand why some water pooling up in the parking
Lot is affecting the buried cables. Those cables should be water proof to begin with. Seems like someone
Who installed them goofed. How about they come back and fix it under warranty…for free!!! I don’t know
The whole story there, but i have read a few articles in the past about the poor quality of the communication
Equipment we purchased a few years back (for a few hundred thousand dollars). Did those same people
Install that underground cable?? Just wondering.
What is the proposed fuel budget? Gas and heating fuel are at 15 to 20 year lows. There must be count savings from this year’s budget. These savings must be carried forward into next year’s budget. How about prepaying for fuel to realize HUGE savings for us tax payers. No increase in the budget. Our government should only be providing what we need. We should not be paying for what the politicians want.
—– Forwarded message ———
From: Julie Magoon
Date: Wed, May 13, 2020, 8:36 AM
Subject: Re:
To: Travis Pond
Cc: Vickie Braley , Charles Webster , Josh Bell (jandabell5@yahoo.com)
Travis,
Vickie will work on running the reports today. She’ll send them to me in excel, I’ll redact all confidential information, scan and send as pdf. Just a reminder, the budget committee needs to be very cautious when discussing County employees, and personnel issues in general. Julie
Email i recieved wednesday.still no report.
The information was provided today, thank you to Julie, and Vickie.