MACHIAS — As Washington County enters the new year, it is hoping to collect taxes from towns early so it can pay off its $8 million debt by February before taking on a new loan for the year ahead. So far, 22 towns have committed to prepaying the county’s 2025 tax anticipation note, and 14 of those towns have already paid their share, paying $2.2 million of the at least $4.3 million the county is expecting to receive early.
The county typically relies on TANs to fund its operations while awaiting tax payments from the towns, but years of fiscal mismanagement came to a head last summer and have left the county unable to continue this arrangement without an influx of cash.
Seven towns and the Passamaquoddy Nation are refusing to participate in this payment schedule, meaning $2.9 million will be added to the amount that will be borrowed for 2026. Unlike communities that have agreed to prepay, the communities that have decided to carry their share into the new year will pay interest on that carryover debt.
As of Monday, according to an accounting presented to Washington County commissioners, there were still 13 communities that had not indicated whether they would prepay their share of the TAN, leaving about $1.4 million hanging in the balance.
County officials believe that many of those communities will agree to pay early. A number of them, including Cutler and Northfield, have scheduled meetings in January to consider their options, so county staff are pretty confident the final debt figure they will have to finance will fall below the current total.
The county’s debt is the result of years of poor financial management, delayed audits and improper bookkeeping that depleted the county’s surplus accounts. In order to keep the county operating, commissioners took out a short-term loan from Machias Savings Bank. Commissioners went to voters in November for approval to borrow up to $11 million in order to pay off the debt, but voters, angry over the degree of mismanagement, overwhelmingly rejected the referendum.
Sensing that would be the result, commissioners had sent letters to all county municipalities in late October asking them to consider prepaying their share of the 2025 TAN.
As of Dec. 29, the county had received commitments from 22 towns to prepay their share. A dozen of those towns committed by Dec. 10, and were joined more recently by Alexander, Beals, Eastport, Grand Lake Stream, Lubec, Marshfield, Steuben, Whiting and Whitneyville.
On Christmas Eve, Alexander paid its $120,033 share and Machias paid its $314,152 share.
Communities that will not prepay are Baileyville, Beddington, Deblois, Princeton, East Machias, Pembroke, Perry and the Passamaquoddy Nation.
At their meeting on Monday, commissioners reviewed a year-end cashflow report generated by Provisional Treasurer Grace Falzarano showing the county has $3.7 million in available cash to finance its operations in the new year. The county’s expenditures are anticipated to be about $1.25 million a month under the 2026 budget adopted on Dec. 17, which would exhaust the available cash before the end of March, which means it has to borrow a 2026 TAN by then to continue meeting expenses.
The county had been operating under the belief that it had only until Dec. 31 to meet its financial obligation to the bank by state law, but according to a memo drafted by attorney Lee Bragg of Bernstein Shur, that is not the case, County Manager Renée Gray told commissioners Monday. Nor does the county have to have voter approval to borrow, as municipalities are required to have, according to that memo.
Following a brief discussion about their options to extend the TAN due date, something Machias Savings Bank has already agreed to approve, commissioners approved a motion authorizing the treasurer to change the maturity date of the 2025 TAN to Feb. 20, 2026.
There was some concern raised about the time it takes to take out a new TAN. If the 2025 TAN isn’t paid until Feb. 20, it would put the county on a tight deadline to borrow a 2026 TAN for operational expenses by mid-March. But commissioners suggested there has been enough scrutiny of the county’s finances and support from the bank and others to keep the paperwork moving along.
Commissioners were very clear with department heads on Monday that they will each be held responsible for meeting their line item budgets, and that commissioners would have to approve any budget spending outside those line items.
Commissioner Courtney Hammond strongly encouraged staff to pay attention to the budget details, saying “I’m not interested in getting in the weeds” on each line item or having to go through the budget on a monthly basis, but Chairman David Burns said he considers commissioners, department heads and staff “all responsible from here on down. If we all understand what we’re doing, it seems to me we can stay within our budget except for emergencies, which is what people expect.”
For instance, he pointed out that the county currently reimburses employee mileage at 70 cents per mile, which is the federal standard. The state standard is 56 cents per mile, and he suggested the county adopt the state standard to save money, which the commission voted to do.
It was one example of a line item that he suggested department heads look at, which Falzarano said they are now doing. “They started paying attention to this and started to cut a lot of stuff,” she assured the commission.
In the past the county had operated using a bottom line philosophy, which means many departments spent more than they had budgeted for specific line items but were considered within their budgets if the overall spending remained on track.
That practice is part of what created the debt crisis and something commissioners said ends in 2026.
Gray said there were significant changes in financial practices in 2025 and “2026 is going to be a new year for Washington County. It’s going to be a foundation year,” a year of transition into better practices, better reporting and more accountability that will take time to polish.
There was a tense period of the meeting during which Joshua Rolfe, deputy director of the Regional Communications Center, asked whether he would be able to start advertising for an open position to replace an employee who gave notice in November.
There are currently two RCC openings and the 2026 budget includes filling one, but not both.
Burns said he thought Rolfe was going to fill the open dispatch shifts, which had been discussed during the budget process, and flat out asked Rolfe which shifts he planned to fill himself.
Rolfe explained that he was willing to help out but that the open shifts would be filled through flexing other employees into those slots.
Burns asked Rolfe if he would fill a shift if someone called in sick, and whether he was certified to do that.
“If absolutely necessary, I will help,” Rolfe said, “but it’s not that simple for me as an administrator to fill a shift.” After citing his certifications to take most calls, Rolfe told Burns, “I don’t understand why I’m the only department head in this county” that is being asked to pick up shifts for vacant positions, and said he will “manage to fill shifts to the best of my ability within my department.”
Sheriff Barry Curtis, who had been standing in the doorway, stepped into the room and said to Burns, “this has been going on for a whole year, you kicking at this guy here. Are we going to have to put up with this in 2026? You don’t seem to be singling out anybody else (to pick up shifts) and I think you should stop.”
Burns shot back, “I will continue on doing my responsibility as commissioner. That’s my promise to you. I think we’ve settled the argument, if that is what this is.”
A dispatcher in the audience also stuck up for Rolfe, saying the open position covers a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift and Rolfe can’t work a night shift and still cover his 9-to-5 responsibilities as director.
Rolfe asked again whether he could hire for one of the two open positions, which commissioners ultimately voted to approve.
Contacted by phone following the meeting, Rolfe acknowledged the friction between himself and Burns, which he said was obvious to anyone at Monday’s meeting, but said Burns “has never spoken to me directly about filling shifts. He’s never discussed it with me,” even though Burns has mentioned it multiple times at budget meetings.
Rolfe, a 30-year employee who did dispatch shift work for 15 years, said his present job as an administrator is to make certain everyone in his department is doing their jobs, not to answer emergency calls.
“Answering 9-1-1 is an extremely detailed-oriented skill that is a perishable skill,” he said. “It’s not like riding a bike. You can get on a bike 15 years later and wobble down the road,” unlike emergency medical dispatch, which he called a “very intensive process of following specific protocol questions” that meet annual testing requirements.
Speaking in more general terms, Rolfe said, “I don’t think commissioners should dictate scheduling within the departments. That’s not their job as commissioners. They have final say over budgets, not staffing. Not personnel.”
He also mentioned that if supervisors are regularly scheduled to work shifts held by union employees, it would violate terms outlined in their contracts and the county could risk grievances filed against it, which he wants to avoid.
Commissioners will next meet on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 4 p.m.
