Cumberland County proposes 7.74% tax-rate increase for 2025–26 budget, driven by jail, insurance and IT costs

County manager Jim McGailey told the Cumberland County Finance Committee on Nov. 19 that staff would present a difficult budget for fiscal year 2025–26 that would raise county tax needs by roughly 7.74%.

"None of us are happy with the budget," McGailey said, as he outlined revenue pressures and expense increases that left staff with few alternatives. Key drivers, he said, include higher health-insurance costs (about an 11% increase), a roughly 15% rise in workers' compensation, expanding IT and software subscription costs, and new charges to retain and manage body-camera footage.

McGailey told the committee the proposed budget would include a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for nonunion employees and that four county bargaining units will be under negotiation in the coming year. He said the county is budgeting $47,000 to expand server/storage capacity for body-camera evidence and that the county will carry an annual $66,000 payment for the body-camera service in the coming year.

The single largest pressure on the budget is the county jail. Staff presented jail expenses rising by just over $2.1 million while identifying roughly $902,000 in additional jail revenues (including federal inmate contracts). McGailey said jail population and staffing changes explain much of the increase: the jail population has risen from roughly 220 inmates to around 370, and federal inmates now occupy a distinct pod that requires dedicated staffing.

Because Maine law caps countiesnew-money jail-budget growth at 4% without a special county-commission vote, McGailey told the committee the proposed 8% increase in jail spending would require commissioners to take a special vote to exceed that statutory cap.

Staff also proposed three personnel additions the committee heard about: an administrative training assistant in the sheriff's office to support onboarding; a conversion of per-diem civil-division roles into part-time positions to address a backlog of served papers; and a regional fire/EMS coordinator (described in a separate committee discussion) to run coordinated training and pursue joint grants.

On capital, staff proposed a $4 million general-obligation bond to fund three projects, and they recommended a $200,000 draw from the tax-stabilization reserve this year to temper immediate rate impacts. McGailey said the county is no longer budgeting for a tax-anticipation note, producing an $81,000 savings this year.

McGailey previewed other revenue and cost items: moving 40–45 employees into a new, county-owned administrative building (creating leasing opportunities for parking), estimated new parking revenue of about $100,000, and $140,000 in additional civil-division fees. He also noted an increase in probate-related appointed-attorney rates that will add about $75,000 and a $20,000 increase for district-attorney fees.

The county recorded recent successes at the Cross Insurance Arena, which turned a previously projected $580,000 deficit into a $700,000 surplus in the last year, but staff cautioned that the arena operates as a separate enterprise budget and the general fund impact is handled across multiple budgets.

Next steps: the finance committee scheduled follow-up meetings (Dec. 10 and a January 2025 meeting, tentatively Jan. 21) to hear department-level presentations (public health, sheriff/jail, communications/dispatch, Cross Insurance Arena and the district attorney) and to refine recommendations for the county commissioners. Staff said their goal is to have a recommended budget to the commissioners by Feb. 1, 2025.