Corrections budget, wind project highlighted at Commissioners’ meeting

  HOULTON, Maine — While the Oakfield wind farm project proposed by Boston-based company First Wind is years from breaking ground, the Aroostook County Commissioners recently discussed the possibility of developing a tax incremented financing-district (TIF) for the company’s proposed generator lead line that would pass through the Unorganized Territories.
    Because Aroostook County is not connected to the larger energy grid that encompasses New England, First Wind has proposed constructing an approximately 59 mile generator lead line to connect the Oakfield site with the larger grid down in Chester; 18 of those 59 miles are through the Unorganized Territory of Aroostook, which are managed by the County Commissioners.
According to Aroostook County Administrator Douglass Beaulieu, approving a TIF with First Wind could mean possible economic development based infrastructure improvements in the Unorganized Territory — snowmobile and ATV trail bridges, road improvements, etc — because it would allow the county to shelter certain portions of assessed value of taxation for the estimated $13 million project for 30 years. Taxes would still be paid during that time, but the money would be deposited into an escrow account.
“Approval of a TIF with First Wind would enable the County of Aroostook to set aside tax revenue to be used for projects allowable under the TIF statutes,” Beaulieu explained, adding that a project that is estimated to positively stimulate economic development in the area would conceivably be allowable projects. The Department of Economic and Community Development in Augusta would have the final say as to whether suggested projects were compliant under the TIF statues.
There is potential that a TIF could reduce the tax rate for the Unorganized Territory because TIF compliant projects, like infrastructure improvements, could mean less dependence on taxpayer dollars for the same improvements.
County Commissioners Paul Adams, Norman Fournier and Paul Underwood expressed their eagerness to move forward in drafting a tentative TIF agreement with First Wind during their last County Commissioners’ meeting in Houlton on Feb. 16 and urged Beaulieu to moving forward with First Wind officials to work out a proposed agreement.
As the project progresses and the proposed TIF agreement becomes more tangible, it will be brought before the commissioners once again for their review and approval.
Jail budget under-funded
Though a TIF for First Wind could ultimately mean good things for the county’s coffers, the commissioners also discussed a looming shortfall should the Maine Board of Corrections neglect to increase funding for the County Jail in Houlton. Beaulieu estimated that by the end of the year, the Aroostook County Corrections’ budget will be roughly $131,000 over budget — which is set by the Board of the Corrections (BOC).
For the past three years, the County’s jail has been overseen by the BOC. While the budget has been structured to accommodate a population of 66 inmates, jail population has often exceeded 100, necessitating the need to board out inmates to other county facilities when the population exceeds 72 inmates. This has put a strain on the County jail’s budget.
An extra six inmates at the facility may not sound bank-breaking, but numbers don’t lie; all of the inmates necessities are furnished by the county’s jail budget while they’re in custody at the corrections facility — including all necessary medical expenses.
For instance, one inmate required dialysis three times a week — a procedure that comes with a hefty price tag. As the inmate was housed by the corrections facility, the tab for that necessary treatment was paid by the jail.
According to Beaulieu, essential medical expenses for inmates have reached as high as $50,000 to $100,000 per inmate.
And while there have consistently been 72 inmates at the Houlton corrections facility, that number doesn’t reflect the total cost of Aroostook inmates; once the 72 inmate capacity has been reached, any additional offenders are transported to down-state correctional facilities.
The county isn’t billed for the incurred costs of Aroostook inmates being housed in out-of-county corrections facilities, but the volume of time and miles it takes to transport those inmates has left it’s own dent in the budget.
For the past three years, the Houlton correctional facility has been under funded by the Board of Corrections — which oversees corrections statewide— for operational costs alone. In addition to shortages in basic operation funds, Aroostook’s corrections officers are the lowest paid in the state and have the highest inmate to officer ratio.
“That’s something that’s been brought to the Board of Corrections as we tried to address the issue,” Beaulieu said. But efforts to provide Aroostook corrections officers with the same pay as their down-state equals has fallen on deaf ears.
While the under-funding of the Aroostook County Jail has been consistent for the past few years, the commissioners did discuss a new policy approved by the Board of Commissions which allows the jail to operate slightly beyond inmate capacity for 72 hours; the jail was previously allowed to operate over capacity for 48 hours.
Proposed bill sparks conversation within Maine County Commissioners Association
Beaulieu informed the commissioners about a bill, sponsored by Rep. Paul Davis of Sangerville, that created quite a buzz at the last meeting of the Maine County Commissioners Association. The bill, titled An Act To Reform the Land Use and Planning Authority within the Unorganized Territories of the State, aims to repeal the law which created the Land Use Regulation Commission, commonly referred to as LURC. Instead of being overseen by LURC, each county would be responsible for land use planning within its unorganized territory.