Penobscot County lost more than $5 million in 2023 due to underfunding, underbudgeting and mismanagement, a long-awaited audit showed.
Multiple departments went over budget in 2023, which drained the county’s general fund from nearly $5.4 million to roughly $381,000, according to an audit that was completed in February.
The audit was slated to be finished last year.
The general fund was drained in 2023 due to years of mismanagement, Penobscot County Finance Director Brenda Palmer said. Roughly $2.3 million of the $5 million was transferred to the Penobscot County Jail, and county officials believed the jail would be able to pay the county back, Palmer said, but that never happened.
“It’s not great, no. I mean, our fund balance took a hit, but we’re looking forward,” Palmer said.
Former Administrator Scott Adkins estimated the county had a roughly $7 million overall budget deficit as of November 2025. The deficit is in the county’s undesignated funds, which can be used to cover budget gaps.
The unbudgeted funds were spent on building depreciation, bond payments, the Penobscot County Jail and five other departments, the audit showed.
Part of the reason for the transfer from the county’s general fund is because county commissioners didn’t collect as much taxes in recent years as they could’ve, so as to not burden taxpayers as much, County Administrator Blair Tinkham said.
The county could have been collecting 4% more taxes for the jail fund, Tinkham said, but elected to stay under the state maximum. That would have brought in more than $1 million.
“The reserve funds were clearly used to offset expenses and a byproduct is this did not put an additional burden on the taxpayer,” he said.
Tinkham was hired in January and was not working for the county when the commissioners decided not to tax the maximum amount.
Since 2021, County Commissioners Andre Cushing and Dave Marshall, both Republicans, along with Sheriff Troy Morton, said they pushed state legislators and the governor’s office to increase funding for the jail, but more funding never came.
County Commissioner Dan Tremble, a Democrat, was elected in November 2024.
The ongoing shortfall led Marshall, Tremble and Cushing to make an “urgent request” for $8 million to Gov. Janet Mills in February to account for a lack of jail funding and the shortfall.
The request stated the county “incurred significant un-forecasted expenses related to jail boarding and critical infrastructure repairs, costs that were beyond our control and impossible to anticipate” over the last three years.
County officials met with Mills’ staff last week to discuss the request, Tinkham said, but no actions have been taken yet.
Marshall, Tremble and Cushing have said the county will make changes to its budget process to avoid a future deficit.
Plans include switching the county to a fiscal year budget schedule instead of a calendar year and the creation of another budget committee that would help oversee the budget. Details on when the committee will be formed, who will be on it and when it will meet have not been determined.
