Washington County commissioners are holding hearings in the coming weeks to discuss an $11 million bond issue they are asking voters to approve in November.
Officials have pitched the bond issue — and an accompanying tax hike of up to 40% — as the path out of a major budget crisis caused by years of poor bookkeeping, improper money transfers and unaudited expenses. Officials have said that years of errors drained county funds and forced them to take on debt to stay afloat this year. Without the cash to repay its loans, the county is on track to go broke by the year’s end unless the bond is approved.
The first hearing will be Tuesday, Oct. 8, led by Commissioner Courtney Hammond of the county’s third district, which includes many coastal communities south and west of the county seat in Machias. Commissioner David Burns will host a hearing for residents of the second district on Tuesday, Oct. 14 and Commissioner Billy Howard will host a first district hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 15, the county announced on Facebook.
Local officials in the third district said residents are seeking clarity on what might happen to county services if they refuse to approve the new spending. Some are also pushing for a deeper look at how the county’s shortfall occurred, even if auditing cannot be completed by November’s vote.
“Even though we are moving on and don’t believe anything was done maliciously… let’s have some more accountability than just saying ‘we’re sorry,’” Jessie Bouchard, a select board member from Columbia Falls, said. “Find out exactly what happened and have a real audit done.”
The county is far behind on its required annual audits — it only recently published its audit for 2021.
It remains unclear how Washington County’s services, like emergency dispatch and the sheriff’s office, could continue to operate if county voters reject the bond referendum. Maine’s governments are not permitted to declare bankruptcy to restructure their debts, but they’re also required to provide essential services. That could put pressure on the state to take over some services.
At a tense budget hearing earlier this month, commissioners said they were not sure what would happen if the referendum were rejected, but that they would bring forward alternatives once they became clear.
“We’re looking for alternates, plan B, plan C even,” Bouchard said. “One backup plan would be good.”
James Malloy, the chairperson of Steuben’s board of selectmen formerly worked at the sheriff’s office and expressed sympathy toward county workers who will face greater uncertainty if the bond issue is not passed. But he added that many in the fishing village on Gouldsboro Bay want to know what their options are.
“I have heard, spoken to a lot of other people that think they need to come up with a plan B and not to do this, to try to figure out some other way to get out of the mess they are in,” he said.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.
