The Strafford County delegation voted to approve a $1,442,531 supplemental appropriation to the county’s 2025 budget after a public hearing on the unanticipated expenses that drove the request.

County Administrator Sandy Bauer and other county officials told the delegation the largest single driver of the request was an unusually large hospital bill tied to an inmate who required extended care at Wentworth-Douglas Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. County officials said a combination of hospital charges and staff overtime to provide security while the inmate was hospitalized pushed costs above budget. Bauer said Medicaid enrollment for several inmates reduced the gross hospital charge substantially but that approximately $300,000 remained unpaid by insurance and must be covered by the county. County staff also cited a norovirus outbreak at Riverside nursing facility and lower-than-expected federal reimbursement as additional contributors to the shortfall.

After discussion, the delegation approved an amended motion to: (1) adopt a $1,442,531 supplemental appropriation to the 2025 county budget; (2) increase the amount to be raised by taxes for 2025 to reflect the appropriation; and (3) authorize short-term borrowing to cover cash-flow timing and revenue gaps. On roll calls recorded in the meeting, the supplemental appropriation and related tax-rate increase each passed by 20–12. A tax anticipation note for up to $1,442,531 was approved 20–12, and a revenue anticipation note of up to $6,962,000 to cover anticipated 2026 nursing-home and jail revenues was approved 20–11.

County officials and several delegation members said the request resulted from a tight, “lean” budget and a string of unusual events that could not be foreseen when the budget was adopted. Commissioners and staff said they had briefed the delegation’s executive committee earlier in the year as the items developed and that auditors and counsel had been consulted about the borrowing steps the delegation approved.

Public commenters pressed elected members for additional oversight and for efforts to minimize future tax impacts. Some delegation members asked staff to negotiate hospital rates and to return in January with more detailed proposals for expense reductions and longer-term changes to the county’s fund balance policy.

The delegation recorded motions to encourage the county commissioners to seek further spending reductions where possible for the remainder of the fiscal year; members also discussed using fund balance and operational savings where practical but said auditors require formal appropriations when obligations fall in the current fiscal year.