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MACHIAS, Maine — In September, the Washington County Budget Advisory Committee proposed a 2026 county budget that would increase overall spending by 40% to address the county’s current shortfall.
The County Commission rejected the proposal, leading the budget committee to slice another $2 million from the budget and finalize new recommendations Dec. 3, reducing the increase to 20%.
At their regular meeting Thursday, commissioners again rejected the committee’s proposal. The vote was unanimous, with members saying more cuts were needed.
The county’s three commissioners and nine Budget Advisory Committee members were set to hold a joint meeting Wednesday to negotiate what they hope will be the final budget. If the commission rejects the next version, the committee could override that decision with a two-thirds vote.
Thursday’s commission meeting drew a packed audience, with more than 20 people watching online.
Budget Advisory Committee Chair Brian Schuth, who also serves as Eastport’s city manager, urged commissioners to approve what he called a “responsible budget,” saying the county has not seen one since 2019.
“This is a real-world, practical, properly funded budget,” Schuth said.
Commission Chair David Burns disagreed, saying he wanted deeper cuts. He said he was disappointed “that we didn’t hash out some issues further” the last time commissioners met with the Budget Advisory Committee. Burns added that he believes there are areas where “reasonable and responsible” reductions can be made while still serving the needs of the county.
“I don’t think anybody is going to suggest anything unreasonable or unworkable,” Burns said.
Although he was asked by a member of the audience what final budget amount he would like to see, Burns did not provide a figure.
The day before the commission met, Provisional Treasurer Grace Falzarano said in an interview with Monitor Local that the committee’s latest budget would be “adequate” to operate county services.
“It’s one that we can live with. One that we can stay within,” she said, citing months of work by members of the Budget Advisory Committee and department heads to tighten belts across all services.
One recommendation in the committee’s latest proposal was to lease vehicles for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office instead of buying them.
The sheriff’s office also offered to fill only one of three open patrol vacancies to save money.
The Regional Communications Center and the Washington County Jail also have open positions, and each department offered to fill only one and make do.
To compensate for leaving those positions vacant, the communications center and the jail are budgeting for higher overtime costs.
Falzarano said what struck her most about the committee’s most recent proposal is that “at least there’s dollars in all the line items as opposed to the 2025 budget. If you look at the 2025 budget, you’ll see zero budgeted for insurance.”
She laughed in frustration, noting the county has spent more than $170,000 on insurance so far this year and must budget for higher costs in 2026 as premiums increase.
“So, of course,” Falzarano said, the 2026 budget “would have to be higher than 2025 because you had too many holes.”
She added that former commissioners “decreased line items thinking they had reserve accounts they did not have.”
Falzarano was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting, so she sent a note to commissioners in advance urging them to approve the 20% budget increase. Anything less, she said, “puts us right where we were in 2025,” which she called unworkable.
Falzarano said sorting out the 2025 financial recordkeeping was difficult, “and then having to beg the towns to help us out” was really tough.
“This is a hardship for a lot of towns and we do recognize that,” she said. “Whether it’s been for the big ones or the small ones, it doesn’t matter, and it’s been horrible that we had to do this.”
This year, for the first time, commissioners met with each department head to review proposed 2026 budget requests line by line, aiming to better understand services and discuss each increase and opportunity for savings.
New expenditures recommended by the Budget Advisory Committee include $50,000 for auditing and bookkeeping services and $50,000 for building maintenance, according to Washington County Manager Renée Gray.
The budget also calls for 8 to 10% raises for members of the county’s three unions, as required under contracts, and a 3% cost-of-living increase is under consideration for all other staff members.
There was early discussion about reducing nonunion staff members to 30 hours a week, but that option was not included in the recommended budget.
The proposed budget for the Washington County Jail is significantly higher than last year, set at $4.1 million for 2026 compared with $2.6 million in 2025. It aligns with actual spending at the jail in 2025 and with what was budgeted and spent in 2024.
The first version of the 2026 budget, proposed by the Budget Advisory Committee in September, called for a $3.8 million increase in operational expenses — from $11.7 million in 2025 to $15.5 million in 2026.
It also included $111,000 for the capital reserve account, $11,000 more than budgeted in 2025, and $100,000 for the county’s contingency fund, which has not been funded since 2022.
Even though the 2025 capital reserve account was budgeted at $100,000, only $5,750 was deposited.
At the Sept. 11 public hearing, Commissioner Courtney Hammond said the 2025 budget was missing so many line items and lacked enough money for facility maintenance and repairs that it could not serve as a baseline for the 2026 budget, forcing departments to start fresh.
At that meeting, commissioners responding to residents upset about the tax hike stressed that the proposed 40% increase applied only to the county’s portion of property taxes, not to entire tax bills.
Following the public hearing and months of criticism over the proposed tax increase, the Budget Advisory Committee returned to work to trim the budget.
By the time it met Dec. 3, the committee had trimmed a little more than $2 million from the initial budget.
Reductions were made in the Emergency Management Agency, the district attorney’s office, the Registry of Deeds and Probate Court.
Part-time hours at the district attorney’s office have been eliminated under the revised budget, and spending on reference books and other materials has been cut in half. The plan also includes money to upgrade computers and create a software reserve account.
The proposed budget adds a nighttime shift differential for communications center staff, increases overtime hours and provides funding for equipment and computer maintenance.
The Probate Court is budgeted to receive funding for computer upgrades and maintenance, and for the record management system.
Part-time hours at the sheriff’s office have been cut and, as at the communications center, funding for overtime has increased. Under the Budget Advisory Committee’s recommendations, the sheriff’s office is also budgeted for computer upgrades and significantly more for training and criminal investigation expenses.
The budget also provides additional funding for in-house medical services at the jail and adds a night shift differential for jail staff members.
The county had to budget substantially more for water and sewer at county buildings, and internet costs for all departments are up.
A dispatcher who works nights attended Thursday’s meeting and told commissioners she was extremely disappointed with how the budget process has gone and with the uncertainty surrounding county jobs and services.
When the commission and Budget Advisory Committee meet Wednesday, she asked: “Are you going to have an answer at the end of it? We’re in the middle of the holiday season, and if somebody is losing their job in the county, their taxes are still going to go up and they won’t have a job to pay those taxes.”
She is concerned that reducing the number of deputies on the road will create safety hazards, and she does not want to see anyone lose a job.
“These are our neighbors — our brothers and sisters,” she said. “They’re not just co-workers. These are real people’s lives and stresses they are going through because of all of this.”
Schuth, chair of the Budget Advisory Committee, assured her the intention is to have a budget by the end of the day Wednesday.
“I can’t say the negotiations won’t be hot and heavy, but we’re in the last stage,” he said.
The county technically has until Dec. 31 to pass a budget, but Schuth said, “Nobody wants to do this again.”
Burns agreed, saying Wednesday is the target day to pass a budget.
The two boards have scheduled a full-day meeting for the negotiations, during which the Budget Advisory Committee is expected to make a final recommendation. Commissioners can accept the recommendation or vote to reject it, but if they reject it, the committee can override their vote with a two-thirds majority, which means the budget could revert to the committee’s Dec. 3 recommendations.
In addition to recommending passage of the revised budget as presented, Schuth said the Budget Advisory Committee advises not beginning work on a 2027 budget until the 2022 and 2023 audits are complete.
The committee also recommends that the county consider forming a finance advisory committee to meet quarterly, putting more focus on county finances throughout the year.
Gray, the county manager, said she is determined to “keep us more transparent” in the new year, including livestreaming all Budget Advisory Committee meetings on Zoom, as the county does with commission meetings now.