MACHIAS — For the third time in a little more than a month, Washington County commissioners pressed the Sheriff’s Office and jail staff Thursday to reduce overtime costs that are projected to push both departments over budget by year’s end.
“I can’t, in good conscience, sit here and overspend our lines,” Commissioner Billy Howard said. “Now that we know our audits and we know our budget and we know our numbers are accurate, thanks to the Finance Department, I won’t sit here and purposely run over our budget. That’s what got us in the mess before.”
Chairman David Burns asked Sheriff Barry Curtis and Chief Deputy Mike Crabtree if they had taken steps to lower overtime in the past month, after the commission learned overtime costs have exceeded the January-to-July spending plan.
“We have obligations we need to meet,” Crabtree said. “We do the best we can. That’s what we said at the end of last year. We’ll do the best we can to stay within that line” for budgeted overtime.
He then asked what they should do “at 2 o’clock in the morning when we need somebody,” noting that overtime is often incurred in emergency situations.
Burns said he was not asking about emergencies because he already understood those.
“Don’t you have somebody during the day that we could do without so we don’t have to do overtime shifts?” he asked.
Turning to Finance Director Jenny Windsor, Burns asked what the estimated over‑budget overtime costs will be by year’s end without cutting back.
Windsor estimated that overtime for full‑time employees could reach $116,000 and noted that it is one of several lines she expects to exceed budgeted amounts. She listed others: $23,143 in the Finance Department, $12,581 in the administrative account and $7,281 for professional services, all driven by high auditing costs.
Windsor also said the county had received payments from several towns toward the 2025 tax anticipation note after the county had already paid the note, giving the county some cash flow that she said “we can work with this year.”
The county had budgeted $220,000 for overtime at the Sheriff’s Office for the current fiscal year and, as of Aug. 31, had spent $233,136 — $13,136 more than budgeted for the entire year. The county budgeted $178,000 for overtime at the jail and, as of Aug. 31, had spent $218,549, exceeding the annual amount by $40,549.
Howard said he raised the overtime issue again because he has been getting complaints from people.
Crabtree, interrupted, saying he wants to know what those complaints are and who they’re coming from.
“You always say that,” Crabtree told Howard about getting complaints, “but you can’t prove it.”
Burns immediately shut the exchange down.
Crabtree added that the Sheriff’s Office has identified about $70,000 in other budget lines that will not be spent and could be used to offset some of the overtime costs.
“It’s not as simple as we’re going to run this as a household budget,” he said, describing the budget lines as guidelines. “We do our best to stay within them. We save money every chance we can.”
Burns turned the conversation back to eliminating some daytime shifts he did not think needed to be filled, telling Crabtree he sees the department “go ahead and fill them anyway and you pay overtime to do that. There are times you don’t need as many slots filled.”
“And that’s where we differ,” Crabtree said, arguing he cannot adequately staff the department with fewer than four employees working at a time.
“I think we have a difference of opinion, chief,” Burns said. “We’re the ones who have to come up with the money and pay for it.”
After a brief pause, and with no motion brought forward on Howard’s concerns, the commission moved on with the agenda.
Earlier in the meeting, the commission formally handed over the 2027 budget to the county’s Budget Advisory Committee, which is scheduled to begin work Tuesday. That meeting is set for 9 a.m. at the Emergency Management Agency office on Center Street.
Brian Schuth, city manager in Eastport, is chair of the committee, and Ben Edwards, vice chairman of the Machias Select Board, is the committee’s vice chair.
The budget, which represents a 40 percent spending increase over the current year, was approved by the commission in a split vote late last month.
On Thursday, Burns told Schuth he hoped that “as you go through the proposals, I hope you will consider some very important things. Instead of what services we are providing to the county right now, of all of those services, which of those are necessary to provide,” while balancing those decisions against the cost to taxpayers.
In other matters, the county considered two bids for oil. Last year, the county paid $2.59 per gallon, and it reviewed bids Thursday of $4.49 per gallon from Dead River Co. and $4.56 per gallon from R.H. Foster Energy.
Windsor recommended rejecting both bids.
“If we award a bid and the price drops, we’re locked in,” she said, which could mean a $40,000 difference in spending.
Commissioners accepted her recommendation, deciding the county will pay the rack price for oil and wait for the price to drop.
Commissioners awarded a salt bid of $86 per ton to New England Salt Co. in Winterport, the lower of two bids received.
The other bid was from Eastern Salt Co. in Lowell, Massachusetts, at $97.85 per ton.
Last year, the county paid $77 per ton to New England Salt Co.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Sept. 14 to reflect that it was Chief Deputy Mike Crabtree, and not Joshua Rolfe, deputy director of the Regional Communications Center, who challenged Commissioner Billy Howard about who was making complaints about overtime costs.
