The Brewer City Council sent a letter of “deep concern” to Penobscot County commissioners after the city was told the county tax could increase by 14% because of a $3.5 million budget shortfall.
The deficit stems from increasing jail costs that the state has not covered, creating an average annual deficit of $2.7 million since 2021. To cover the difference, municipalities would have to either cut their budgets or raise taxes.
The City Council’s letter came in response to information presented at a Sept. 25 meeting with county commissioners and local leaders. Councilors said the response was warranted because of the alarming shortfall and the pressure put on towns and cities in the county because of it.
The letter calls on commissioners to explain why the county has allowed the jail budget to go unbalanced since 2021 and for the county to work hard and creatively to solve the budget shortfall without burdening municipalities.
“The County’s reliance on increasing taxes to cover its yawning budget gap is not fiscal responsibility. It is cost-shifting, and it is eroding the ability of municipalities to fund their own police, fire, public works and basic community services,” the letter read.
The message of the letter was echoed by councilors at Tuesday’s council meeting, with all five calling for increased transparency and accountability from the county.
Councilor Dani O’Halloran said the increase handed down to Brewer would put services like law enforcement in question next budget season because of local cuts needed to keep taxes down.
Mayor Michele LaBree Daniels noted that Brewer is taxed at the third highest rate in the county.
The letter concedes that the county does need a new jail, but says funding for it shouldn’t be pushed onto communities that are already trying to keep their budgets down.
Much of the information in the letter was shared with Councilors Jenn Morin and O’Halloran at the Sept. 25 meeting. The councilors said it was hard to get “straightforward answers” from any county official at the meeting about how the budget shortfall came about and how it would be solved in future years.
Budget issues will continue to plague the county if the jail budget isn’t rectified soon, Morin said.
Although they are the first to send a public letter to the commissioners, Brewer won’t be the only community to ask critical questions of the county and worry about how the tax increase would affect its residents, Morin said.
“It is not going to be smooth sailing that everybody’s just going to pass [an increase],” Morin said. “I think that we’re really looking to hold the commissioners accountable.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the effect the county’s budget shortfall would have on a municipality’s mill rate.