County administrators informed the Knox County Commission on Aug. 12 that the state will reduce the county's portion of the deeds transfer tax from 10% to 9.2%, effective Sept. 1, and that decrease will be in place for two years.

The county administrator said the register of deeds would provide more detailed figures and that the budget process would reflect the revenue change. The administrator characterized the reduction as occurring sooner than anticipated and said staff are preparing figures for the remainder of the fiscal year and will alert the commission if urgent budget adjustments are required.

The administrator also reported that the county will roll out a Munis (Tyler Technologies) human-resources and payroll interface in the coming months, replacing much of the county's paper HR processes and enabling online time sheets, mobile access and electronic performance evaluations. Staff said the HR manager and deputy finance director have been working on implementation for over a year.

Additional administrative updates included: a classification and compensation study conducted by Maine Municipal Resources, Inc., with results expected for presentation in September along with an executive summary and cost impact analysis; the county has posted an administrative assistant to the county administrator position and two staff members (Elizabeth and Wendy) have been covering the duties in the interim; concerns about parking-lot signs that display job titles (a privacy and security issue) and potential replacement with numbered spots or generic employee parking signs; and a renewed focus on child-care support for 24/7 county employees where staffing and capacity constraints limit available options.

The county administrator also summarized progress on IT infrastructure and a near-complete jail door replacement project and noted pending work on a district jail collaborative SMRT study; final SMRT reports were still pending at the time of the meeting. Several other county operational items and grants were mentioned as underway.

No formal vote was taken on these administrative updates; staff said they will provide figures or follow-up reports as needed during the budget process.