Somerset County approves FY27 draft budget to send to Budget Committee; commissioners limit tax increase to 3.5%

Somerset County commissioners on March 18 approved a draft FY27 budget of $15,523,328.42 to send to the Budget Committee, voting 4-0 to move the plan forward.

During workshop discussion, County finance staff reviewed department requests and reserve targets. Patrick Dolan presented a proposal to establish a minimum capital reserve equal to about 4% of General Fund expenses and 6% of jail expenses, which together would create an approximate minimum capital balance of $1.3 million. Commissioners asked staff to refine allocations for individual departments before budget hearings.

The commission debated one departmental request in detail: the County Extension Office asked for $82,000, which included a $15,000 line to cover employee benefits currently not provided by the University of Maine. The majority of commissioners were not in favor of funding the full benefits request and directed staff to reduce the Extension Office line to $67,215 in the working draft.

On overall fiscal strategy, the commission agreed to use undesignated fund balance to lower the fiscal impact on taxpayers. Meeting discussion noted both $930,000 (earlier in workshop notes) and $935,000 (during the formal budget motion) as the amount of fund balance to be used; meeting minutes record that using the undesignated fund balance figure will result in an overall taxpayer increase of 3.5%.

The draft budget approval was made by motion of Commissioner John Alsop, seconded by Commissioner Joel Stetkis, and carried 4-0. The draft will now go to the Budget Committee for review and public hearings.