Gov. Paul LePage’s recent order to cut state spending by $35.5 million, if approved by the legislature, will have an impact on the Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit budget as well as that of Two Bridges Regional Jail.

The spending cuts being proposed by Gov. LePage include: $13.4 million from the Department of Health and Human Services; $12.58 million from the Department of Education; $2.5 million from the University of Maine; the Department of Corrections $1.9 million; and the Board of Corrections $164,000.

According to the RSU Board of Directors Chairman Hilary Holme, the curtailment affect to RSU 12 is $146,728.50. The curtailment is "temporary" until the Legislature acts on a supplemental budget in January. This information was provided to school districts by the State Dept. of Education on December 27.

It is currently unclear how the loss of that revenue will be absorbed. “The RSU finance committee will be meeting this week, and that will definitely be on the agenda,” Holme said.

The reduction in the state’s Board of Corrections budget will impact the Two Bridges Regional Jail's third and fourth quarter payments from the Board of Corrections’ investment account, according to Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett.

“It cannot come from the taxpayers,” Brackett said. “We’re capped. We will have to look at perhaps limiting some services. The Lincoln/Sagadahoc Jail Authority will need to deal with that loss of revenue.”

This legislation created a State Board of Corrections (BOC) to develop and implement a unified state and county correctional system, and it capped the amount counties could raise from taxation for the support of corrections to the 2008 level.

Two Bridges is one of four flagship jails under the new unified system, the other three being Cumberland, York and Somerset. As a flagship jail, Two Bridges houses inmates from other counties and the Department of Corrections as well as serving Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties inmates.

Lincoln and Sagadahoc County each pay $2.4 million per year in monthly payments of $291,819 per month; the remainder of the operating cost for the jail is made up from the investment account in quarterly payments.

Chairman of the Board of Corrections Mark Westrum, who is also the Two Bridges Regional Jail Administrator, said he expects the Board of Corrections curtailment will be divided 17 ways throughout the state. Westrum agreed with Brackett, that Two Bridges' third and fourth quarterly payments will be impacted by about $10,000 each quarter.

The next meeting of the state Board of Corrections will be held in Augusta Tuesday, Jan. 15, at 1 p.m.

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com.