AUGUSTA – The state proposal to take over Maine’s jails now includes more than 100 layoffs, the shrinking rather than closure of five jails, and $5.6 million in withheld subsidies to counties.

On Thursday morning, the plan was included in the governor’s supplemental budget bid. By the afternoon, the jail consolidation’s chief spokesman – Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson – seemed shell-shocked.

“I’m sure I’ve been very upsetting to the counties today,” Magnusson told members of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee. “Not just once. Multiple times.”

In every county in the state, taking care of prisoners is the single greatest expense. The plan calls for the Department of Corrections to seize control of the jails on July 1.

In all, 10 of the state’s 15 jails would function much as they do now, holding both pretrial and convicted inmates. Androscoggin and Knox counties jails would be made into pretrial-only facilities, shipping prisoners to other parts of Maine after their trials are over.

And jails in Oxford, Franklin, Kennebec, Waldo and Piscataquis counties would be downsized. Their capacities would be reduced, and they would serve as a three-day holding area for new prisoners.

And the state plans to do it all with 116 fewer people. Those losing their jobs would likely be corrections officers, support staff or administrators inside the jails, Magnusson said.

In the first 12 months, the state hopes to save $7 million in the takeover.

It’s a figure that is being met with lots of skepticism by county leaders across the state, so much so that Maine’s sheriffs and county commissioners are coming up with their own plan.

They plan to unveil details of their alternative – the Maine Jail and County Corrections Authority – to the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee next week.

In broad strokes, the authority would more closely network Maine’s jails, shifting prisoners between the facilities to take better advantage of some jails’ empty beds.

“I don’t think they’re convinced that the state can do a better job,” said Robert Howe, executive director of the Maine County Commissioners Association. “I’ve still got more questions than answers.”

Skepticism also came from several committee members.

The July 1 takeover date is “absolutely not possible,” said Rep. Patricia Blanchette of Bangor. And projections of savings, nearly $38 million by the year 2015, seem improbable, she said.

“I’m looking at projections that are not going to materialize,” Blanchette said.

Another question is exactly how the transition from county to state control would be handled.

“We won’t be flipping a switch on July 1,” Magnusson said. The transition will likely take longer, requiring some work from both county and state employees.

Details, including the number of layoffs expected in each county, are expected to be part of a master plan, which Magnusson plans to release as early as next week.

The plan is meant to incorporate information gathered by inspections last fall at each of the county jails.

The raw data grew to “thousands of pages,” Magnusson said.

One certainty is that state subsidies to the jails – amounting to almost $500,000 in Androscoggin County – would end on July 1, he said.

Elmer Berry, chairman of the Androscoggin County Commission, declined to comment about the plan until more information is known.

The money would be sorely missed, Sheriff Guy Desjardins said.

“Commissioner Helen Poulin was absolutely right last year when she worried whether the money was coming,” he said.

Under the governor’s plan, the Oxford and Franklin county jails would become 72-hour holding areas. The Androscoggin County Jail would be a pre-trial-only facility.