Over the past four years, county and regional jails in Maine have been faced with many challenges in order to operate as a coordinated county correctional system. 

One of the most significant challenges for the counties comes from the state, which has fallen short on funding inverse debt payments.

In April 2007, the legislature passed a bill aimed at better coordinating and reducing the costs for state and county correctional services.

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.

Several county jails had missions’ changes, leaving three county jails and one regional jail to take care of county and some state inmates.

The four flagship jails are Two Bridges Regional Jail, Somerset, York, and Cumberland County jails; most are new facilities with inverse debt.

Since the corrections' consolidation, property taxpayers in each county are still responsible for the debt payment on county jails that have been taken over by the BOC

This funding has not been forthcoming from the BOC until recently.

According to the letter from the two counties, the BOC may intend to designate the inverse debt reimbursement to fund system-wide capital improvements in this upcoming biennial budget.

The Lincoln County Commissioners, Sagadahoc County Commissioners, and the Two Bridges Regional Rail Authority members have sent a letter to the BOC asking them to make adjustments to its biennial budget to reflect the transfer of a proportion of the inverse debt.

“It is our understanding and belief that the original intent of the legislation allocating such reimbursement was to recognize the debt service existing at several facilities at the time of the consolidation and to assist with offsetting these expenses.

“Although the state was not willing to assume the entire debt at that time, this provided a mechanism for reimbursement to those counties responsible for payment of bonds,” according to the letter.

In the calendar year 2012 the debt service, which is paid by Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Somerset and York counties, in addition to the set caps, was $5.9 million.  

Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties each paid nearly $1 million in 2012 in principal and interest in debt service for the Two Bridges Regional Jail.

Somerset County paid $2.6 million and York paid $1.3 million.  The BOC was reminded in the letter that these facilities are the key to accommodating Maine county jail population.

The letter went on to say, “We would therefore emphatically urge that the BOC revisit this matter and make adjustments to its biennial budget to reflect the transfer of a proportional amount of any inverse debt received to Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties, such amount be a percentage of each county’s debt service based upon the average non-Lincoln/Sagadahoc daily inmate population at two Bridges. This formula could be certainly applicable to the other “flagship counties as well.”

The BOC’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 15, in Augusta. It is unclear if the Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties’ request will be considered at that meeting as the agenda has not yet been released.

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