MACHIAS, Maine — Members of the Washington County Budget Advisory Committee voiced significant frustration on Tuesday as they kicked off deliberations on the county’s fiscal 2027 spending proposal. The source of their grievance centered on county commissioners once again delivering an unvetted, raw collection of departmental requests that contained no preliminary cuts or formal administrative adjustments.
The draft spending package under review totals $17.1 million, representing a substantial $3.7 million escalation—or 27.6 percent—compared to the approved budget from the previous fiscal year. Without decisive intervention and cost-cutting measures by the advisory panel, local taxpayers would be forced to shoulder a massive property tax assessment of $15 million to fund the county’s operations.
Committee Chairman Brian Schuth, who also serves as the city manager of Eastport, made sure to clarify the exact nature of the document before the panel. He reminded his fellow members that the figures presented in the binder do not embody the policy positions or recommendations of the county commissioners, but rather reflect an unedited compilation of initial funding requests submitted directly by individual department directors.
If the draft plan were enacted without modifications, the resulting $15 million tax commitment would mark a steep $3.4 million surge over the prior year’s tax levy. This sharp upward trajectory follows a sustained period of rising fiscal demands in Washington County; during the previous cycle between fiscal 2025 and 2026, county spending grew by $1.8 million, which translated into an additional $1.5 million collected through property taxes.
Rather than deliberating and voting on specific budget reductions before passing the proposal onward, Commissioners David Burns and Billy Howard chose to attach independent memorandums to the main document. Schuth characterized these supplementary submissions as informal “wish lists,” outlining various spending trims that the individual commissioners hoped the advisory committee would analyze and enact on their behalf.
Many of the cost-reduction concepts detailed in the commissioners' memos were familiar proposals that had been previously discussed during county meetings without ever being formally implemented. Among these recurring suggestions were recommendations to scale down vehicle fleet modernization by purchasing fewer cruisers for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and pursuing savings by trimming back the county's K-9 program.
The proposed reductions also took aim at other critical areas within local emergency management and law enforcement operations. One commissioner suggested sweeping reductions totaling approximately $1.2 million across public safety services, while another promoted a comparatively moderate series of expenditure rollbacks concentrated primarily within the Sheriff’s Office and the Regional Communications Center.
Schuth expressed deep exasperation with the commissioners' continued reliance on this process, noting that it was the second straight year the board had effectively disowned the draft budget while sending it down the pipeline for the advisory committee to resolve. He pointed out that commissioners had multiple opportunities during their own regular public sessions to implement adjustments, yet repeatedly opted against taking decisive action.
Committee Vice Chairman Ben Edwards, who also serves as the vice chairperson of the Machias Select Board, provided a sober reflection on the deep-seated financial distress that has shadowed the county’s governance. He recalled that when he initially joined the advisory committee a year ago, the county found itself navigating the most precarious financial footing in modern memory.
Edwards detailed the extensive financial instability that marked the preceding cycle, including completely depleted cash reserve accounts, an escalating reliance on short-term Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs), and official financial audits that had fallen multiple years behind schedule. That distress was further compounded when local voters rejected a county bond measure supported by the committee, creating widespread uncertainty over whether Washington County could meet basic vendor invoices and payroll obligations.
Even after the advisory panel executed extensive trims during that turbulent cycle, the resulting budget still required an overall expenditure increase of 17 percent year over year. Edwards noted that county departments were forced to operate on significantly less funding than they originally requested, yet nevertheless managed to keep essential public operations functioning.
Looking ahead at the 2027 fiscal review, Edwards stressed the vital importance of evaluating the tangible consequences of those past financial constraints on daily operations. He argued that the committee must hear direct testimony from affected department leaders regarding how prior cutbacks impacted frontline coverage, drove up costly employee overtime, and contributed to staff resignations and turnover.
Acknowledging the difficult decisions ahead, Schuth told committee members that their primary responsibility will involve establishing an equitable compromise between the operational requirements of county agencies and the realistic financial resources available from area taxpayers. He candidly noted that making such tough choices would likely make him and other members unpopular, prompting lighthearted remarks around the table about who would claim that title.
Despite the moments of levity, the advisory board quickly pivoted back to the grave fiscal responsibilities ahead. Committee member Harry “Sonny” Beal Jr. emphasized that regardless of intense inflationary pressures and expanding municipal demands, the committee remains fundamentally obligated to construct a final budget that genuinely reflects the indispensable requirements of the county and its residents.
With panel members such as Crystal Gallina actively engaging in the process, the committee began dissecting line items across the entire county apparatus. The group faces weeks of rigorous evaluation as it seeks to reign in the $17.1 million proposal, resolve lingering structural fiscal burdens, and forge a workable compromise that balances public safety needs against escalating property tax pressures.
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