FARMINGTON – County government here is feeling the crunch of rising fuel prices just as people are around the state.
Though thousands of dollars were budgeted for gas and heating oil, accounts are either low or depleted and in the hole, Franklin County commissioners learned Tuesday as County Clerk Julie Magoon and county Treasurer Karen Robinson gave them an update on the situation.
The courthouse heating fuel account has $380 left from the $11,000 that was budgeted for this calendar year, Magoon said, and that won’t go far.
With cooler months approaching and Superior Court going back into session this fall, Magoon said, the courthouse needs to be heated. Even if the county decided to switch to four-day weeks, as some counties are considering, she said, the heat would need to be kept on low.
The courthouse uses a lot of fuel, she said.
“We go through fuel here; it’s scary,” Magoon said.
If county officials had planned on this type of increase in fuel costs in the budget last year, Commissioner Fred Hardy of New Sharon said, “They would have laughed at us.”
Jail administrators budgeted $12,240 for heating fuel and that account is $400 in the hole, Robinson said.
The Sheriff’s Department’s heating fuel account has $600 remaining of the $900 budgeted, she said.
However, the sheriff’s department budgeted $32,000 for gas for vehicles and that is $2,800 in the hole, Robinson said. The department’s gas tank was filled up in late August.
The overdrafts would come out of the contingency account, Robinson said.
In other business, commissioners agreed to apply to National Association of Counties to enroll in a prescription card discount program that residents in Franklin County could use.
Magoon said that Commissioner Gary McGrane of Jay had suggested looking into the program, which would not cost the county anything to provide for residents. The county pays dues to the national association.
More than 57,000 pharmacies are participating in the program, according to the association, including Howard’s Rexall in Farmington, Hannaford in Farmington and Jay, Riddle’s Pharmacy in Rangeley, and Rite-Aid and Wal-Mart, both in Farmington.
On average, people would save about 20 percent off retail price, Magoon said.
Once the county is enrolled and decides what agency would handle the cards, Magoon said, there would be press releases on how people could participate.
Other decisions made Tuesday were:
• Awarded winter maintenance contract in Madrid to Alan Brisard, who has a mailing address of Phillips, for his bid of $4,500 a mile. That figure includes plowing, sand and salt for the 13 miles of road.
• Accepted $2,000 from the Ladies’ Auxiliary 2689 of the Veterans of World War I in the Farmington area to put in a trust to be used for flowers in the urns at the World War I memorial on Route 4 before Memorial Day each year. The auxiliary has voted to disband, member Barbara Titcomb told commissioners Tuesday.
• Hired Mabel MacIntyre of Jay as a part-time cook at the jail.
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