AUBURN – Androscoggin County Jail officials unveiled a $2.3 million budget Wednesday covering the first six months of 2009, the first step toward coming under the umbrella of the state’s Board of Corrections.

The spending package also includes forecasts for more than $10 million to cover the next two years – bringing the jail’s fiscal year in synch with Maine government’s biennial budget.

“This is a preliminary document,” Jail Administrator John Lebel said. “We’re just at the beginning stages of the process. It will look different.”

Funding for the jail is being overhauled as part of the state’s consolidation of all 15 county jails. The measure, passed last spring by the Legislature, caps the amount of money to be raised by property taxpayers at current levels.

The 2008 benchmark was set at $4.28 million.

Any increase will be picked up by the state. However, all jail budgets must first be approved by the state Board of Corrections.

Unlike the rest of the county budget, spending on corrections will go from the three-member county commission to the state board. The rest of Androscoggin spending – from the cost of sheriff’s patrols to the running the registers of deeds and probate – will go to the county Budget Committee for examination.

It’s uncertain how steep the budget for the Auburn jail may climb, Lebel said. The forecast adds just under $178,000 from last year’s budget. The increases come primarily from a boost in medical expenses and fuel costs.

The current budget estimates a $125,000 heating oil bill for all of 2008. Guessing that fuel in early 2009 might average $3.51 cents per gallon, the half-year expenses could reach $105,000.

“Talk about blowing us out of the water,” Lebel said.

The other big-ticket increase is in medical.

The local jail, like several others across Maine, has contracted with Allied Resources for Correction Health to obtain health care for inmates.

The contractor’s staff costs are rising and it has requested added hours for some of its staff. The cost is about $275,000 for 2008, Sheriff Guy Desjardins said.

The six-month bill could be as high as $237,000, he said.

Lebel and Desjardins hope to bring down medical costs just as they have for prescriptions, by joining with the state in a kind of co-op.

In recent years, the jail had spent around $125,000 annually on prescriptions for inmates. Then it joined the state system, nicknamed “Correct RX.” The jail budgeted $65,000 for 2008 and has, so far, spent about $27,000.

Desjardins said.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said.

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