Maine
Opinion: Maine’s county jail funding system is broken
You may not realize it, but Kennebec County provides housing and living costs for approximately 2,136 people each year (as of 2024). Many are in and out in a day or so. But it’s not the Western movie hoosegow where a drunk is sobered up or the occasional federal bad guy is warehoused.
What’s this? The Kennebec County Correctional Facility or, for short, the County Jail. The average occupancy is 140 people, and their average stay is 69 days. The jail consumes about 49% of the county’s budget. Statewide, county jails hold a daily average attendance of 1,400.
Nobody wants to think about these people and this amount of money. But there are several reasons why we will have to do it. Not only is the amount large, it is budgeted in a nontransparent way. It’s shown on your property tax bill as a small amount due the counties — usually 8% or 10% of a town’s budget. Worse still, it’s not decided until May or June of each year; many towns have already held their town meetings.
Most years, this has been a small problem — increases have been held to small amounts. In recent years, however, matters have changed. We’ve fallen behind on a number of fronts.
The jail was authorized for 80 employees, or half the county’s staff, in the 2024-25 budget. They work 8¼-hour shifts, and one 16-hour shift is typical each week. They are not merely burly guards. The jail often cannot recruit enough people. Until a substantial pay raise this year, they earned about what they could get at any fast food place.
For fiscal 2025-26, the overall budget for medical care was the county’s largest at $3.2 million, bringing the total to $13 million. Prescription drug costs are one major cause and, in turn, a major reason why the tax rate rose. The counties are squeezed between towns and cities that raise the taxes and the state.
How did we get into this mess? By not talking about it. It was resolved in the past by small groups of people in small rooms. It needed very little attention so long as the increases were modest.
They’re not modest anymore. We owe this to the opioid epidemic — both the number of inmates every year and in particular the cost of inmates’ treatment for drug and drug-related problems.
Drug treatment costs are higher than most realize. The Legislature has mandated that all counties provide drug-assisted treatment but hasn’t appropriated enough funding. The jail must maintain a medical staff on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the jail resembles a clinic — with an average stay of 69 days.
The Kennebec County facility presently holds eight people charged with murder; their average stay is 1½ years. The state prosecutes murders. But surely a method can be found that allocates some of these costs to the state. What should be done with these costs?
There is legitimate debate over the logical division point between local and state responsibilities. We understand the Department of Corrections has its own problems. But we believe the Legislature is unfairly burdening the counties — and hence the property tax base.
The time has come to form a commission on state-local relations in law enforcement. We’re living with a system inherited from late medieval England, and it’s broken. It needs to be examined, root and branch, and tough questions asked: Do we need sheriffs in our smaller counties? Who will do local patrols, and do we need them? Do we need county jails, or should we merge them into a state-run system? Who should pay the costs of drug treatment?
These issues have been debated before. But the longer we paper them over, the more costly it will become.
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This story will be updated.
The Maine Department of Transportation is moving to slash up to $400 million in projects from its agenda, a shocking and abrupt cutback that is rattling the state’s construction industry at the start of building season.
Roughly $50 million across six pavement projects have already been delayed, according to a memo exclusively obtained by the Bangor Daily News. The agency plans to cut or delay another $150 million in bridge, highway, intersection and multimodal projects later this month. A further $200 million or more in cuts are planned in the next three-year work plan.
Those figures were outlined by Transportation Commissioner Dale Doughty in the May 18 memo to Gov. Janet Mills that has since circulated widely in the transportation sector, which has been getting drip-by-drip details on the wide scope of the cuts over the past three weeks.
It comes at the beginning of the state’s relatively narrow construction season. Companies have hired workers and ordered materials for projects they expected to begin this summer. The severity of the transportation budget problems was not raised to lawmakers during the 2026 legislative session.
Kelly Flagg, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine, called the shortfall “deeply troubling” in a statement.
“We stand ready to work with policymakers, stakeholders, and industry partners to identify both immediate and long-term solutions,” Flagg said. “Maine cannot afford to fall further behind.”
Insiders saw this first.
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The cuts stem from a structural funding gap of at least $130 million in the state’s current work plan, according to Doughty’s memo. Losses are magnified because state money from the gas tax and other revenue sources is matched by federal funds. Lawmakers have long grappled with politically difficult long-term problems with the state’s transportation budget.
A Mills spokesperson said Wednesday morning that the administration was working on a response to questions from the BDN. The department says it needs roughly $240 million more in state capital funding annually to maintain the existing system, and that anything less than $200 million will erode it over time.
Doughty’s memo the only near-term solution is a series of bonds beginning as soon as possible. Lawmakers would have to return to Augusta to authorize that if one is going to appear on the November ballot.
The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Michael Capeci is the former chairman of the Bangor GOP.
Let’s be honest about Maine’s current state.
For many families, the cost of living has become unsustainable. Housing is out of reach for many young people. Energy bills keep rising. Many small businesses are struggling under taxes and regulations that make it harder to grow. Rural hospitals are under strain and despite years of increased state spending, the results are not showing up in people’s daily lives.
Concurrently, Maine continues to lose young workers to other states. That is not a statistic, it is a warning sign.
To me, the question in this Republican primary for governor is not about slogans. It is whether we continue with a political approach that has failed to reverse these trends, or whether we nominate someone with new ideas. I think that someone is Owen McCarthy.
Owen is not a political insider. He is an entrepreneur from Patten, a small town where opportunity is not assumed, it is built. He grew up in a working-class family, became the first in his family to graduate from college graduating from the University of Maine, and founded MedRhythms, a healthcare technology company focused on neurological treatment.
He didn’t just talk about opportunity. He built it. That distinction matters, because Maine’s problem is not a lack of debate it is a lack of results. We have seen the trajectory: higher costs, slower growth, and a steady outmigration of young workers. I believe Owen McCarthy represents a break from that pattern.
His Maine 2040 plan focuses on creating 50,000 new jobs in sectors where Maine has real advantages — maritime and defense, advanced forest products, and life sciences. These are export-driven industries tied directly to Maine’s workforce, geography, and institutions. What sets Owen apart is not only what he proposes, but how he approaches governing.
He prioritizes modernizing permitting so projects do not stall. He supports using technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency. He focuses on making it easier to build, hire, and expand in Maine.
That same practical mindset extends to healthcare. Expanding telehealth, strengthening EMS systems, improving provider flexibility, and shifting toward earlier intervention are not abstract reforms. They are system upgrades designed to improve access while controlling costs.
Maine voters consistently respond to competence. They reward candidates who understand problems and present plans to solve them. I believe they are tired of rhetoric that does not translate into results, and skeptical of politics that prioritizes messaging over execution.
Owen’s approach is grounded in solving the issues that shape daily life — affordability, healthcare access, job creation, and government efficiency. That is not just policy positioning. It is a governing model that speaks directly to voters.
Some will point to his lack of political experience. But I believe Maine’s core problems are not the result of insufficient political experience; they are the result of policies that have failed to deliver measurable improvement. Experience inside a broken system, by itself, is not a solution.
If Republicans want to win, this primary must be taken seriously. From my perspective, it is not about choosing a nominee for governor who can energize the base. It is about selecting someone who can compete in a broader electorate that is frustrated and looking for change.
That requires a candidate who can speak beyond the base, not by abandoning principles, but by demonstrating competence and a credible plan to address Maine’s challenges. I believe Owen McCarthy offers that combination. He represents a shift away from managed decline and toward economic execution.
This is not just another primary. It is a decision about whether Republicans position themselves to win Maine or whether they remain trapped in a cycle of repeating the same strategies and expecting different outcomes.
If Republicans want to compete for Maine’s future, they cannot afford to nominate a candidate who only motivates part of the electorate. They need someone who expands it.
I believe Owen McCarthy is that candidate.
And if the goal is to win Maine, then the choice should be unmistakable
The only notable change in the top-seven of the Varsity Maine baseball poll is that Gorham now has eight first-place votes, two more than last week. The order of the seven teams is identical. In fact, the only change in the top-seven over the past three polls is the swap at the top after Gorham’s win over South Portland on May 19.
Furthermore, Gorham, South Portland, Oxford Hills, Cheverus, Bangor, Mt. Ararat and Fryeburg have been ranked in the top seven for four straight weeks, and six of those squads have been among the top seven in every poll this spring.
Meanwhile, Scarborough is ranked for the first time since May 5, and Ellsworth and Thornton swapped spots.
The Varsity Maine baseball poll is based on games played before June 2, 2026. The top 10 teams are voted on by the Varsity Maine staff, with first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total points.
1. Gorham (8) 89
2. South Portland 79
3. Oxford Hills (1) 75
4. Cheverus 55
5. Bangor 42
6. Mt. Ararat 41
7. Fryeburg Academy 30
8. Ellsworth 27
9. Thornton Academy 25
10. Scarborough 12
Also receiving votes: Washington Academy 8, Monmouth Academy 4, Cony 4, Leavitt 2, Falmouth 2.
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