2021 is the last year Maine Emergency Management Agency will dole out the same amount of funding to all 16 counties. Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Director Casey Stevens reported his department received $113,777, the same amount MEMA delivered in recent years. But next year, Lincoln County and other low population counties will receive less. 

During the Dec. 21 county commissioner’s meeting, Stevens reported beginning in October, MEMA will change the funding formula. “Some counties will receive double and others like us will receive less,” he said. County Administrator Carrie Kipfer reported MEMA will provide each county with  $30,000 and base the rest on population. “Penobscot, which has a much larger population, received less funding than we did. So MEMA changed the formula by factoring population in,” she said. 

Based on the new formula, Stevens expects to receive $68,656 from the state agency for 2023.

In other action, commissioners approved the 2022 county budget. The proposed budget was up 10.25% before the budget advisory committee recommended trimming approximately $142,000, according to Finance Director Michelle Richardson. Instead commissioners approved $13,698,787 in spending. The county budget is offset by $1,644,272 in revenues which leaves the taxpayer assessment at $12,054,515. 

Kipfer reported the budget didn’t include some new salaries and would require a future adjustment. “Once those figures are known they will be added to the budget. We wanted to approve the budget now so we could get the assessment out to the towns,” she said. 

County Sheriff Todd Brackett received approval to submit payments for new equipment commissioners authorized earlier this month. The equipment includes a Watchguard Video Contact, which places two video cameras in a cruiser along with a body camera, $5,430; portable radio earpieces and microphones, $5,294.52; portable use of force training simulator, $14,000; and 30 duty knives, $2,400. 

Commissioners approved hiring three new county employees. Tim Badgley is the new probate clerk. He started Dec. 20. Commissioners appointed former reserve deputy sheriff and jail employee Ernest “Allen” Oliver Jr. as an animal control officer. Timothy McLaughlin of Friendship was hired as a new emergency communications officer. Communications Director Tara Doe reported McLaughlin has three years’ experience as an emergency dispatcher. “That is a big plus for us because he doesn’t need to go through all the training a new hire would,” she said. 

The communications department still has one vacant job, but Doe said another applicant is under consideration who also has previous emergency dispatching experience. 

Commissioners meet next at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4 in the county courthouse.