County officials eye $4M budget for 2016

By Stuart Hedstrom

Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT – A proposed $4,007,542 Piscataquis County budget for 2016, along with a little more than $1,471,870 for the Unorganized Territories (UT) in 2016-17, was presented at a public hearing on the evening of Nov. 30 as part of the process by county officials for developing the two spending plans.

“The 2016 county budget, for which the fiscal year begins Jan. 1, is just over $4 million,” Interim County Manager Tom Lizotte said. This sum represents a decrease of nearly $83,000 or 2.03 percent from the current year.

Lizotte said the tax commitment for the 17 towns and two plantations in Piscataquis County is a little less than $2,332,000. “That’s a small increase of $1,200,” he said, about the approximate .05 percent rise in municipalities’ share of the spending plan.

“Due to fluctuations in valuation, not everyone sees the same result,” Lizotte said. He explained Dover-Foxcroft and Greenville have the two largest shares of the county budget at 12.5 and 11.8 percent respectively. The more southern of the pair of communities will pay $5,066 more in county taxes, $429,180, due to a rise in state valuation while the town on Moosehead Lake will contribute $10,890 less to the county or $407,929 as its state valuation dropped from the year before.

Ten communities will experience an increase in the county tax and the other nine towns will see decreases, with all results based on state valuation fluctuations. Lizotte said the overall property valuation for the 19 organized county towns is estimated at nearly $1.595 billion or $11.9 million less than the year before.

About a third of the tax assessment for the county budget, a total of over $1,117,700, comes from the UTs. With the UT valuation increasing by $12.5 million to $764,350,000, the UT tax assessment is up by $27,085 (2.48 percent) in the proposed spending plan presented on Nov. 30.

Lizotte said the budget for UT expenditures is for July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 and the figure of $1,471,873 represents an approximate $54,770 (3.59 percent) decrease from the current fiscal year.

“Even though this budget is designed to stay stable we had a slight increase,” Lizotte said about the county tax commitment. He said the commissioners recommended transferring $25,000 from surplus to reduce the tax commitment, less than the $130,000 that was transferred in 2015.

“Even though the UTs’ share of the county budget is going up a little, UT taxpayers in Piscataquis County will pay a little less this year,” Lizotte said. He said the UT budget, funded solely by residents of these parts of the county, tax assessment is about $962,000 or $46,572 (4.62 percent) less than the current fiscal year.

“We are able to take $205,000 from UT surplus to reduce UT tax commitment next year,” Lizotte said.

“This budget includes a general 1 percent increase for non-union, full-time county employees,” he said. Contract negotiations are in process between the county and the union representing sheriff’s department employees for a contract to run from 2016-18

Lizotte said these discussions are going well. Should a wage increase be agreed to in the negotiations then there is still time to include the new figures in the 2016 budget. “It’s still a little fluid here” he said, as the budget advisory committee needs to OK updates to bring forward to the commissioners.

These county officials were scheduled to discuss the budget during their meeting on Dec.1 with a possible final decision being made then or possibly two weeks later on Tuesday, Dec. 16 before the end of the year.

“We have issues we have to deal with the sheriff’s building, perhaps you’ve heard about that, and the jail’s an issue,” Commissioners Chair Fred Trask said at the conclusion of the public hearing about concerns that will need to be addressed in 2016.