AUBURN — Androscoggin County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to seek help in preparing their 2012 budget, perhaps as a test for having a full-time county administrator.

Without the help, looming questions, such as who will dispatch emergency vehicles across the county and when fixes will begin on the Civil War-era courthouse, might be put off until next year, Commissioner Jonathan LaBonte said.

“There are some major moving parts that we can choose to address and hit head-on and make substantive improvements in our service delivery,” LaBonte said. “Or we can say, don’t worry, we can handle it, the status quo is fine.”

Commissioner Elaine Makas insisted that such help should have been requested months ago, if at all.

“This is kind of a rush job,” she said.

Work on the coming year’s multimillion-dollar budget is scheduled begin Aug. 24. LaBonte introduced the notion to the other commissioners days ago after speaking with Dana Lee. Lee, who served as the town manager in Poland and Mechanic Falls, has begun his own consulting firm, Lee Facilitation Services.

If LaBonte had introduced the idea in February, she might have though differently, Makas said. She also had reservations that handing off such work might be a breach of trust with voters, who expected her and the other commissioners to shape the budget.

“They elected me to do that,” she said.

LaBonte insisted that policy decisions would remain with the commissioners.

“The buck still stops with us,” he said. “We’re not giving up our authority.”

In the end, Makas was outvoted. Chairman Randall Greenwood voted to support LaBonte’s measure, which calls for bids on the consulting work to be opened Aug. 24.

The pilot period could begin as early as September, LaBonte said.

Meanwhile, the county’s Charter Commission should have a completed proposal to share with voters about the same time, Chairman Richard Gross said. The current draft of the charter — which could remake county government with new rules, policies and offices — includes a full-time professional administrator.

All three commissioners have spoken in favor of creating the job, even voting last fall to include it in the 2011 budget. The measure was later overturned by the Budget Committee.

LaBonte believes the help is a key piece of moving county government toward reaching its long-term goals. Too often, little is accomplished during weekly meetings, he said during an afternoon workshop session.

“If we’re going to sit here and go round and round and round every Wednesday on the same issues without going out and doing research on the issues and bringing forward solutions, we’re going to be here forever,” LaBonte said.

“We can’t sit here on Wednesdays and hope someone’s going to come here and tell us the solution and it’s just going to work, because no one’s coming here with any solutions,” he said.

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