On the final day of the year, Penobscot County Commissioners approved a new, $35.3 million budget for 2026.
Penobscot County ended up making about $850,000 in departmental budget cuts and found $150,000 in previously unaccounted revenue.
The vote to approve the budget was unanimous and was made on the last day that county commissioners could submit a plan to the state.
All told, the 2026 budget represents a 15.6% increase over the previous year. County commissioners said Wednesday that the burden on taxpayers isn't as high as initially feared.
Commissioner Dan Tremble said the budget increase is almost entirely driven by a $3.5 million shortfall at the Penobscot County Jail that needs to be covered.
"We had no alternative this year, other than to have this type of increase in the budget to take care of the deficit in the jail," he said during Wednesday's meeting.
Commissioners said Wednesday that budget problems with the jail will likely persist unless the state increases funding support to county prisons. Penobscot County officials are also pushing for a new jail facility. The current jail is more than 150 years old, and the county spends about $2.5 million a year to board inmates at other facilities.
Other Maine counties are dealing with rising operational costs at the jails and have spent the past year grappling with budget challenges. In western Maine, Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties agreed to explore opening a shared, regional jail to save costs. Washington and Waldo Counties are also dealing with their own budget crises in part because of the rising costs of running their jails.
