Jail funding formula may change with incoming legislature

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — During Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin’s reelection campaign, he noted that he was one of only three sheriffs in the state to oppose creation of the Maine Board of Corrections six years ago.

    In addition to exercising too much authority over the local jails, Goggin said that the BOC funding formula actually penalizes correctional facilities for being efficient or finding creative ways to balance their budget.
    Apparently, Goggin’s opinion is shared by other county officials.
    According to an email from Bill Whitten, the assistant county manager of Cumberland County, there’s a good possibility that some changes could be made in the law during the upcoming legislative session.
    Interim County Manager Tom Lizotte said that one problem with the Piscataquis County jail budget is that the state DOC “caps it at $878,000 when the actual cost of running the jail is $1.4 million.” Lizotte said that until 2008, the county “could count on an almost unlimited supply of federal prisoners” to help balance its budget. “Today, those revenues are nowhere near where they used to be,” Lizotte said.
    However, Lizotte said that if the Legislature decided to eliminate the BOC “without local jails having the revenue that they used to have … would mean a rather large increase for county taxpayers.”
    Whitten’s email echoed Lizotte’s concern. “There are also questions about how much of an effect it will have on taxpayers. It has also been rumored there will be funding in the supplemental budget to give us a ‘soft landing’ should we go back,’” Whitten wrote.
    But he added that it’s uncertain what is meant by “back.” “Do we go all the way back (where) all expenses are sent to the local taxpayers, with limited funding from CCA (private prison and federal inmate) funds, or does the state continue to provide some sort of funding with the balance picked up by property taxes?” he wrote.
    Goggin told the county commissioners last week that the BOC regulations “have made things go from bad to worse. The state has literally taken tax revenue away from us. They put a carrot out there on a string, saying they would cap us at $878,000 and pick up the remainder of the budget if we’d dance to their tune.”
The sheriff said that the county would have been better off renovating the old jail to increase the capacity to 20 inmates instead of expanding it in 1989. “We’re stuck with a 42-bed facility when our average population is 12 to 16,” he said.
    But even if Piscataquis County jail was filled to capacity most of the time, chances are it would still lose money. The state used to pay $22.50 per night for each inmate a jail would accept from another county, but no more, said Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty. “That went out the window when the BOC was formed in 2009,” he said. “So there’s real no incentive to fill vacant beds with in-state transfers – and that hurts departments like ours.”
    Liberty said that at one point last week, he had 198 inmates in Kennebec County Jail “and I’m authorized 144. That’s a safety issue for my officers. In addition, 58 percent of inmates have been diagnosed with some type of mental disorder.”
    While county jails with vacancies are encouraged to accept prisoners from overcrowded lockups, there is no law mandating it, said the sheriff.
    The Kennebec County jail budget has gone up by $1.5 million during the past five years, said Liberty. “If they turned the jails back to the county, it would make it very difficult for taxpayers, especially with the reduction in revenue sharing and state aid to education,” he said.
    Liberty said that he still believes in collaboration of resources “but what they’re doing now simply isn’t working. We’re lacking resources in so many areas. I’ve started many programs down here that are helping people return to productive lives, but there’s no funding for it. And I’m sure this situation isn’t unique.”