As members of the Two Bridges Regional Jail Authority finish the budget for the coming year, they want to invite candidates for state legislature to an educational program in hopes of getting money promised to county jails.

Their decision follows a discussion of the impact on county jail budgets from a lack of state funding, along with a new shortage of beds for inmates.

Two Bridges Regional Jail’s budget is running in the black, with about $59,000 at the end of fiscal year 2012, according to a board-approved report by Finance Committee Chairman Peter Lepari. In light of this information, Lepari said he would like to see employee raises next year, but the discussion that followed showed there are other factors in the way of this possibility.

The Department of Corrections is flat-funding the system, only authorizing county jails to spend the same budget for 2013 as in 2012. For Two Bridges, this means a $7.2 million budget for the coming year. One difficulty is expenses increase over time, Two Bridges Administrator Mark Westrum said.

Westrum has also served as the chairman on the Board of Corrections since last year. While he, fellow staff members and Jail Authority members seek to keep costs down at the jail in Wiscasset, system-wide budget issues challenge his role on the state level.

He would like to offer employee raises next year, but the budget also accounts for health insurance benefits and other factors, he said. Some benefits would have to see a cut when weighed against a 2 percent raise, which Westrum said would cost about $100,000 overall.

Laying employees off is one option Westrum and staff members have been faced with in light of a flat-funded budget. Instead, Westrum said they reduced spending in food service and other commodities.

Westrum said most employees favored keeping health insurance benefits the same over getting a raise next year. However, officers are at the same rate of pay as when they were hired six years ago ($14 per hour) and are making the same as new hires, according to his report to the Authority Board.

“We haven’t laid anybody off,” Westrum said, adding that the jail has been fairly fortunate having been able to retain employee benefits.

BOC seeks more beds

Somerset County Jail recently decided not to accept out-of-county inmates. Westrum said that decision has left the Board of Corrections with the task of finding available beds for inmates in the remaining county jails.

Somerset is one of four flagship jails, including Two Bridges, that house out-of-county inmates. Their decision removes 100 beds from the system.

“I’m convinced (Two Bridges) is not going to be a dumping ground,” he said to Authority members. “It has been chaos, trying to manage without 100 beds in the system.”

Some jails are not as financially solvent, Westrum indicated, strapping the Board of Corrections with the task of finding ways to close the financial gaps. He said one county jail opted to give employee's raises using capital improvement funds. This could pose a problem if and when the jail needs the funds for maintenance or other issues.

“The problem is the counties aren’t looking at this as a system,” Westrum said. 

While Two Bridges Regional Jail is, for the moment, in good financial standing, the Jail Authority wants to obtain state funds promised to county jails.

Flagship jails receive money from the state each year in quarterly payments. If the funds are not completely used, the state holds back upcoming quarterly payments, he said.

The Board of Corrections never really reached out to the legislature to get needed funding in the past, Westrum said. “We have got to engage the legislature.”

He is concerned about the safety of his staff and, lacking needed funds, would like to keep the jail’s inmate population at 165 for fiscal year 2013. The Board of Corrections is working on a three- to five-year strategic plan, he said, and is negotiating with the Somerset County Jail to find an inmate housing solution.