Washington County’s sheriff called out two commissioners over their push to make cuts to his department as officials hurtle toward a decision on their plan to solve a budget crisis.
In a Facebook post over the weekend, Sheriff Barry Curtis asked residents to call commissioners in protest of possible cuts, including those being championed by David Burns, a former Republican state legislator and retired Maine State Police trooper.
The tensions flared as the all-Republican commission is preparing to finalize the county’s 2026 budget amid an ongoing budget crisis. At a meeting last week, the three commissioners rejected a proposed 20% increase in the county’s tax levy, down from an earlier proposal which would have included a 40% hike. The trio have not yet agreed on where to trim the fat.
Under a recent proposal put forward by the county’s Budget Advisory Committee, Curtis’ office would not fill several vacancies and make other cuts, which the sheriff said would save $605,000 per year. But with the county facing a historic budget shortfall, two of the county’s three commissioners want to go further.
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On top of allowing vacancies to go unfilled, Burns said he is in favor of an additional layoff, while Commissioner Billy Howard and some budget committee members also expressed support for deeper cuts. Burns’ idea would leave the county with roughly a dozen deputies. With some scheduling changes, he said that’s plenty.
“I wouldn’t recommend it if I thought it was going to put people in jeopardy, whether it’s the officers or the people that receive the services,” he said.
The sheriff’s budget makes up a large portion of county expenditures, which primarily cover public safety functions in the vast, rural area. Following Burns and Howard expressing support for further cuts to patrols last week, Curtis made his Facebook call for support.
“A drastic reduction in patrol will certainly force a change in the way we are able to provide coverage and service to the people of Washington County,” he said in the post, which called out Burns and Howard by name. “I can’t tell you exactly what that would look like until it happens other than significant delays in response to some calls and reduced hours of coverage.”
While Washington County residents are frustrated over past budget mismanagement and high taxes, the threat of cutting police funding has struck a nerve with some in the conservative community. More than 200 people commented on the sheriff’s post, many of them protesting proposed cuts.
Many in the county still feel stung by the state’s withdrawal from many rural patrols in 2023, a decision motivated by a staffing shortage and forced county taxpayers to make up the difference in police coverage themselves. Local lawmakers have tried in vain to restore those patrols.
While most counties in Maine have posted declines in crime rates over the last few years, Washington’s crime rate has increased. But it remains lower than in most of the state, with only Waldo County reporting a lower crime rate in 2023, the last year statewide data is available.
Commissioners said they would come to a final decision on the budget at a meeting on Wednesday. The Budget Advisory Committee, made of nine town officials, will put forward another proposal, which can be approved or rejected by two of the three commissioners. If the proposal is rejected, a two-thirds majority of the budget committee can override their decision, and put their version of the budget in place for 2026.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.