AUGUSTA, Maine - Members of the Legislature’s budget-writing Appropriations Committee have tentatively agreed to continue funding for the state's county jails. But the plan is about $2 million a year short of what some believe is necessary to operate them properly. And that could pose serious financial problems for some jails.
The Appropriations Committee spent the afternoon Thursday going over scores of bills passed by the Legislature but awaiting funding. One of the largest is one approved earlier this week in the House that would fund county jails through the Department of Corrections, while abolishing the state board that had overseen state funding for the jails.
The bill approved by lawmakers but not yet funded calls for an appropriation of about $14 million a year. Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty, president of the Maine Sheriffs Association, says the Appropriations Committee has approved about $2 million a year less than what's needed. And he says that will pose problems for some jails that are at capacity and need to board inmates somewhere else.
"Looks like the sending jails will have to pay the receiving jails up to $180 a person. Some of those facilities, like Penobscot, it may be as many as 45 inmates a day as a payout. So it’s very, very expensive - catastrophic really - to some of the subduing facilities," Liberty said.
The complex legislation that replaces the Corrections Board has trigger language that allows jails that take prisoners from other counties to charge for those inmates, and allows the counties to raise property taxes to make up for what they are short from the state.
"This particular piece of legislation only allows us to do that to 3 percent. And so, in some counties, that could mean a deficiency of more than $1 million," Liberty said.
Members of the Appropriations Committee say lawmakers on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee who drafted the jail legislation were warned that the panel has no extra funds to make up the difference. Lewiston Rep. Peggy Rotundo, a Democrat, co-chairs the panel and she says the additional money they want is simply not available for the two year state budget.
"They are asking for $4 million. We don’t have the money. There is not money on the Appropriations table to fund what they are asking for," Rotundo says.
Sen. Jim Hamper, a Republican from Oxford co-chairs the committee. He says he has not gotten enough information from the counties to understand why there is a need for more money. He says he needs more facts, and that is one reason the issue has been carried over for more discussion when the Legislature reconvenes next Tuesday.
"The scuttlebutt in the hallways is, OK, you supply x number of dollars and then you’re going to need to supply x number of dollars plus another $2 million. And then, you know, it’s like a need that never goes away and is always increasing," Hamper said.
As it stands, the committee has approved the legislation that will abolish the Corrections Board and provide state funding to the counties through the Department of Corrections. The counties are mounting a full court press to be fully funded, but members of the Appropriations Committee say they do not know where it will come from.
