Piscataquis commissioners approve $5.9M county budget
DOVER-FOXCROFT — It will cost Piscataquis County $5,940,331 to operate next year, plus $2,205,199 to run the unorganized territories.
County commissioners — including Paul Davis, who replaced James White as the commissioner for District 1 last week — approved the final 2023 county budget and 2023-24 unorganized territory budget during a meeting held Tuesday.
Like other counties in Maine, Piscataquis is dealing with surging costs across the board — even halting hires for new positions — so naturally their budgets are increasing. Striking a balance that pleases county officials, departments and organizations that rely on county funding is complicated to begin with, and the annual process is even more challenging in today’s climate.
The Budget Advisory Committee has discussed the budgets since Oct. 6 and it was presented to residents in a public hearing Nov. 28. The major change that commissioners agreed to in a special meeting Dec. 1 was to slash 10 percent of grants for all nonprofits and other organizations and put a $100,000 cap on the grants.
That means Piscataquis County’s economic development group, regional food center, chamber of commerce and other organizations will have less funding next year.
“I would just like to say this was voted on prior to my becoming a member here,” Davis said during Tuesday’s meeting, “but it was a unanimous vote amongst the commissioners. From what I could glean from the meeting the other night [Dec. 8], it seemed to me that the budget committee supported this endeavor.”
The final budgets approved Tuesday were slightly less than the amounts discussed during the public hearing.
For example, in late November, officials predicted the 2023 county budget would total $5,980,906, a 9.93 increase compared to the current budget. The proposed unorganized territory budget for 2023-24 was $2,205,399, or a 6.68 percent increase.
The budgets remained largely unchanged, County Manager Michael Williams said. The key adjustment was for the grant-funded nonprofits.