I am writing to report on the budget for your Cumberland County government.
The draft budget was submitted by me as county manager this past September to the county’s Budget Advisory Committee after several weeks of meetings with the department heads, as well as meetings with my budget team. In addition, I have met with individual committee members and reviewed my preliminary recommendations with the Cumberland County Commissioners prior to finalizing them.
The environment we are in today, with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and the need to balance government spending against an ever-rising tax burden, is challenging to all of us who are involved in the practice of public administration. We are fully aware of the need to provide quality services in the most efficient manner possible, and are striving to do that with our 2007 budget.
The challenge for this budget is the increasing medical and housing costs at the jail for our inmate population, due to mental-health issues far beyond our control. As in the past, the driving force affecting the county’s budget is once again the jail, causing more than 60 percent of the recommended increases. At the same time, the funding by state government for the jail has gone up only a fraction of the costs. Our broken mental-health system in Maine and the lack of jail funding places an unfair tax burden squarely on the backs of Cumberland County taxpayers.
Among my various recommendations was the decision not to fill any of the nine new positions requested, that our merit pay program be suspended and that the training for the jail and law enforcement be flatlined.
It is particularly important to point out that the county began this process with a 11-plus percent tax increase when you calculated the total requests from the various departments and agencies, totaling $1.3 million more than my recommended budget.
The final draft budget recommended an increase of $934,539, or an annual operating budget of $30,744,405. This amounted to a county tax increase of 4.84 percent, which is below the estimated LD1 spending cap of 5.16 percent for Cumberland County government.
After several meetings during the past two to three months with the Budget Advisory Committee, which includes nine municipal, elected officials, the committee voted to recommend a proposed county budget that calls for a tax increase of 4.99 percent, or an increase in expenditures of $963,179, for a total annual operating budget of $30,773,045.
If approved by the commissioners, this recommendation would mean a mil rate of .52 cents. For individual taxpayers, it would represent an increase in their county tax of $5.58 in 2007, less than 11 cents per week. Put another way, it means that a homeowner with a home valued at $224,000 would pay an estimated $117.99 in county taxes for 2007.
I hope you will be able to attend at least one of the following public hearings that the county and the budget committee will be having on the proposed budget:
District 1: Monday, Nov. 27, from 6:30-8 p.m. Yarmouth Town Hall Conference Room, 200 Main Street. (This meeting is preceded by a commissioners meeting from 5 to 6:30 p.m. All are welcome.)
District 2: Monday, Dec. 4, from, 5-6:30 p.m. Cape Elizabeth Town Council Chambers, 320 Ocean House Road.
Over the years, Cumberland County government has collaborated well with our Budget Advisory Committee, strategic planning participants and other stakeholders to develop sound policies and practices that are well thought out.
At the same time, it is unfortunate that our communities and citizens are not able to enjoy the distinct advantages that we offer as a service provider, a convener of groups and a problem solver, due in large part to the absence of any effective statewide policy toward county government and the lack of response by the state to the unique fiscal challenges we face with the Cumberland County Jail.
Peter J. Crichton is county manager for Cumberland County.
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