AUBURN — The Androscoggin County Commission went into the wee hours of the morning Thursday before finalizing its preliminary 2017 county budget.

The seven-plus-hour meeting began Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. and did not adjourn until Thursday at 12:37 a.m., according to County Administrator Larry Post.

Not counting the jail budget, commissioners cut $113,500 from expenditures and added $35,767 in anticipated revenues in the $12 million budget.

Commissioners also cut more than $59,000 from the jail budget and are hopeful that an additional $298,000 in anticipated revenue will materialize and balance that account. Among the revenue counted upon is $225,000 in additional state funding and $25,000 to board up to five inmates per day from other counties.

Post and Sheriff Eric Samson met during a recess at about 10 p.m. and came up with $68,000 in cuts to help balance the troublesome account.

Major cuts made by the commissioners included refusing to fund a request from Western Maine Transportation Service for $42,500. WMTS, which receives funding from Franklin and Oxford counties and also serves Androscoggin County, was seeking funding from Androscoggin County for the first time.

Commissioners also cut $30,500 from the building account and $32,900 from three accounts overseen by the sheriff.

Added to the budget was $25,000 in legal fees for a total of $75,000. Of that amount, $15,000 is in the jail budget.

Commissioners took considerable time discussing employee salaries, debating whether to offer a stipend or give all employees a raise. The board finally settled on a 2 percent raise for nonunion county workers.

Commissioners also agreed with Post to give the facilities director and the office manager in the District Attorney’s office a step increase.

Post also attempted to correct the huge salary discrepancy for Samson and Chief Deputy William Gagne. They are the lowest-paid sheriff and chief deputy in the state.

Samson’s annual salary of $53,026 is more than $4,000 less than the next-lowest paid sheriff, in Washington County, and nearly half of the highest-paid sheriff, in Cumberland County ($92,289).

Every municipal police chief in Androscoggin County — Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon, Sabattus, Mechanic Falls and Livermore Falls — also have higher salaries than the sheriff. The police chiefs in Lewiston and Auburn both make more than $100,000.

The same wage discrepancy applies to Gagne.

Commissioners balked at giving each of them a $10,000 raise, which still would have left them in the bottom 25 percent of their peers. After much debate, commissioners compromised and awarded each a raise of $5,000.

Earlier in the meeting, the board reluctantly agreed to raise the starting salary for its information technology director from $44,000 to $52,000. The county has operated without an IT director for nearly four months when none of the qualified candidates would work for that starting salary.

The position has been posted at least twice.

“I immediately need an IT person,” Post said. “We’ll be in trouble if we don’t get one soon.”

Post said most IT directors in the area can earn between $70,000 and $100,000 and often have employees working under them The county job is a one-person department, though Post and the former IT director said there was more than enough work to hire a second person.

Budget Committee Chairwoman Emily Darby of Minot read her letter of resignation. Darby, who has been an outspoken critic of the commissioners and the legal fees being spent by the county, has moved to Harpswell.

Having served six years on the committee, Darby did not seek re-election, but still received write-in votes for the Budget Committee last month from three of the five towns in her district — Livermore Falls, Turner and Minot.

With the preliminary 2017 budget now complete, the Budget Committee will begin its deliberations Wednesday, Sept. 28.

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