NEW GLOUCESTER – Rural towns at the northern edge of Cumberland County want to be heard along with the louder voices of the Portland area.
Cumberland County Commissioners have met with town leaders of New Gloucester, Pownal and North Yarmouth to talk about local issues and find ways to work together.
The session was the third in a series of outreach efforts spearheaded by county officials.
“The goal of these meetings is to get to know each other a little better, talk about issues and discuss opportunities to work together more successfully,” said Commissioner Al Austin.
New Gloucester Selectmen David Lunt said the three towns aren’t heard as loudly as Portland and South Portland. “We need our own voice. The rural towns face issues that are different from large cities.”
Selectmen praised the quality of the county emergency dispatching services and the rural patrol provided by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department.
Law enforcement through the Sheriff’s Department and maintaining the county jail and its debt are the biggest costs in the county budget. The jail and its debt account for 60 percent of the county budget of roughly $30 million.
Sheriff Mark Dion said he supports more sharing of services to save money if the county is given more regulatory authority. “The state is the big kid in the room and we pay for it,” he said. Regulation and oversight are costly, Dion added.
The state provides $800,000 of Cumberland County Jail’s $15 million budget, but the county is responsible for what seems to be ever-increasing inmate health care costs, Dion said.
“The inmates are sicker. We have 44 high-risk pregnancy prisoners, patients who need dialysis, and cardiac cases are routine,” he said. The jail population is 485 with a capacity of 600.
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