Staff Writer
The Maine Legislature’s passage of a jail consolidation law will not save Aroostook County any money, according to the county’s administrator Doug Beaulieu. “If you believe in that, you believe in the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny,” Beaulieu said in an interview last week.
The law that is touted to better coordinate and reduce the cost of state and county correction services was passed by the Legislation last Friday. Since it carried an emergency clause, the law goes into effect upon the governor’s signature.
While the final bill was different from Gov. John Baldacci’s initial proposal, some counties, including Aroostook County, were opposed to any change.
The final law will establish a State Board of Corrections that will coordinate between the county jail and the state prison system. The operational budgets would be under state control, according to the bill. One substantial savings, according to supporters, is the board’s authority to coordinate all of the correction transport services of the state and the counties.
However, Beaulieu disagreed.
“I will guarantee it will not save money in Aroostook County,” the county executive said.
Currently, it costs $2.3 million annually to run the Aroostook County jail. According to the law, the property tax assessed to run the jail will freeze at 2008 levels. Any increases are supposed to be passed onto the state.
Beaulieu said that he believes that there won’t be any financial benefit to the plan as it applies to Aroostook County.
The state can also close a jail if it wishes, Beaulieu said.
“Our backs were to the wall,” the county administrator said. “This (option) was the least undesirable.”
The county’s legislative delegation voted against the consolidation.
“I’m beaming with pride because our delegation stuck with us,” Beaulieu said.
Another piece of state legislation of interest to the county were the recommendations of a commission to study the costs of providing services to the unorganized territories. A proposals that was adopted by the current Legislature would give county commissioners the authority to impose a fee for delivering services such as for fire protection and ambulance, Beaulieu said.
This fee would be above what the unorganized territories are assessed in property taxes, he explained.
However, county commissioners don’t plan to assess the service fees, according to Beaulieu.
“They’re already paying taxes,” Beaulieu said, pointing out that the new law say “may” assess and not “shall.”
A second proposal by the commission will allow a municipality’s town office that provides a service, such as car registration, to an unorganized territory resident to increase a service fee. The fee will increase from $4 to $6.
Beaulieu said he supported that fee increase.
“It’s a lot of paperwork for them,” said the county executive.
In other activity, the Aroostook County Commissioners have appointed Dena L. Winslow, PhD of Presque Isle as the new executive director of the Workforce Investment Act Program. Winslow will administer the program for Aroostook and Washington counties.
WIA is a federally funded program that provides an “integrated and seamless delivery system” employment and training benefits to eligible clients. Included in the delivery system is the Career Centers, one of which is in Presque Isle.
In her new job, Winslow will work with Aroostook County Commissioner Norman L. Fournier and Washington County Commissioner Christopher Gardner and with the Local Workforce Investment Board, chaired by Barry D. McCrum of Mars Hill.
A Mapleton native, Winslow has a bachelor’s degree in English, speech and theatre from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, a master’s degree from the University of Southern Maine in educational leadership and a doctorate in history from the University of Maine in Orono. She has been involved in education in several capacities, including most recently as the Loring Job Corps Center’s admissions counselor for Aroostook and Washington counties.
The next Aroostook County Commissioners’ meeting is Wednesday, May 7 at the Caribou courthouse at 5:30 p.m.s
