AUBURN — A group of Maine sheriffs hopes to wrestle some financial control of Maine’s 15 county jails away from state budgeteers.

Money saved in the jails ought to stay in the jails, argues the Maine Sheriffs Association. On Wednesday, Androscoggin County commissioners were asked to sign onto the group’s contract,  calling for a new county corrections trust that would administer end-of-year savings at all of the jails.

Without the protection, every dime saved could go to the state Department of Corrections.

“At these tough budget times, nobody is sure what the state might do,” Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins said. “Right now, the law is 100 percent of the fund balance goes to the state.”

The law, like the consolidation of Maine’s jails, is new.

In 2008, the state merged each of the county jails into a unified arm of the state’s corrections department. The local tax burden for each jail was frozen at 2007 levels and any new spending was left to the state to fund.

Some jails shrunk. Others saw their roles change. All lost some of their autonomy.

If approved, the trust would be made up of seven people from across Maine: three sheriffs and four county commissioners. It would collect 75 percent of each county’s fund balance and send 25 percent to the state.

Desjardins, who was a strong advocate of the consolidation two years ago, said he was still gathering information about the initiative.

Androscoggin County commissioners put off making a decision about the contract, citing Chairman Randall Greenwood’s absence from the meeting Wednesday. He was with his wife, who gave birth Wednesday to the couple’s third child.

Commissioner Jonathan LaBonte questioned some of the specifics of the contract, but he agreed with its goal.

“It gives counties a place in the sandbox,” he said.

[email protected]