For want of one deputy, a budget was nearly lost.

This was the saga of Androscoggin County, as officials of county government wrangled for weeks about the budget prepared – at their request – by Sheriff Guy Desjardins before talks finally ended Thursday.

The process was a portrait of dysfunctionality. It started in October, when county commissioners refused invitations from several towns to discuss the budget. They claimed a public hearing, attended by a handful of people, sufficed as an opportunity to comment.

Then, the heat of the sheriff’s race slowed the budget again. A last-ditch effort by the defeated incumbent, Ron Gagnon, to alter the budget drastically persuaded commissioners to let the victor, Desjardins, plan the finances after taking office in January.

Yet ceaseless back-and-forth among Desjardins, commissioners and the county’s budget committee made this good faith gesture go bad. They quibbled for weeks over issues like a single deputy position, an accounting process for corrections funds and a civil process vehicle.

This latter discussion is the real head-scratcher. At issue was $1,200 to return an elderly sheriff’s cruiser to service for delivery of summonses, court orders, etc., or to reimburse the officer for mileage on a personal vehicle.

In the realm of burning issues, this one was frozen solid.

Finally, it took a unanimous veto by the budget committee – a part-time citizen panel – on Thursday to end proceedings. The commissioners seem to have quieted, reluctantly. And Sheriff Desjardins can now focus his full attention on policing the county, nearly six weeks into his new job.

County government’s flaws are well-known, but reformation seems unattainable. In this legislative session, for example, several reform bills, such as efforts to alter the election of commissioners and sheriffs, were rejected.

(A laudable bill brought by Rep. Randy Hotham, R-Dixfield, to provide for the nonpartisan election of county commissioners was put in the Legislature’s dead file on Feb. 15, alongside a similar effort to make registrars of deeds appointed, rather than elected, positions.)

Absent sustainable reform, we’re stuck with the county government we’ve got. County commissioners and Desjardins should put these tense budget negotiations to rest, and move ahead with managing the county’s more pressing business: jail overcrowding, law enforcement, etc.

Their relationship started poorly, and it needs the kind of repair only time can provide. Preparation of the next county budget, thankfully, won’t start until August.

Let’s not hear any more about it until then.