Penobscot County residents need straight answers about budget crisis

By David Winslow

The recent Bangor Daily News article describing Penobscot County as “a freight train ready to crash” should concern every taxpayer. Not because financial pressures exist — those are real and affecting communities across the country — but because the public has been left largely uninformed about how our county reached this point and what, if anything, is being done to correct the course.

For years, costs have risen, departments have struggled with staffing, and capital needs have accumulated. Yet the residents of Penobscot County have received little meaningful communication from county leadership about the severity of these issues, the BDN reported. Instead, we learned about the crisis only after it became newsworthy. This is not what transparent government looks like.

Taxpayers are not obstacles to be managed; we are partners in sustaining the services that keep this county functioning. But partnership requires information. Right now, the public has been given few of the details necessary to understand the problem or evaluate possible solutions.

What we need now is clarity — real clarity. To me, that includes:

A clear, itemized explanation of what is driving the county’s financial strain. Broad statements about “rising costs” are not enough. Taxpayers deserve to see the specific pressures and the magnitude of each.

A multi-year projection showing where county finances are heading. A crisis described as a runaway train does not develop overnight. If warning signs existed earlier — and they must have — the public should have been alerted.

A straightforward plan for stabilizing the situation. We need to know which options are on the table, which are off the table, and what county leadership believes the consequences of each will be.

A commitment to regular and proactive communication. Residents should not have to rely on investigative reporting to understand the condition of their own county government.

People in Penobscot County are reasonable. We understand that budgets are complicated, costs rise and choices must be made. But we cannot support — or even trust — solutions that seem hidden from view until the last possible moment.

The credibility of county leadership will depend on whether they choose to meet the public with transparency, accountability, and honesty. If they do, I think they will find the residents of this county willing to listen and willing to help. If they do not, this “freight train” may indeed crash — and not because of financial pressures alone, but because of a failure to communicate with the very people who must help pay for the outcome.

The public deserves answers, and deserves them now.

Winslow of Brewer is a long-time resident of Penobscot County. He served 27 years in the U.S. Air Force, along with being active in many local community organizations.