An Act To Reestablish the Penobscot County Budget Committee
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 0361
Committee: State and Local Government
Sponsors: BLANCHARD, PERRY, BLANCHETTE, CAIN, CARR, CLARK, DUCHESNE, DUNN, FISHER

I;egislative Document 
No. 361 
H.P.274 
House of Representatives, January 25,2005 
An Act To Reestablish the Penobscot County Budget Committee 
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative BLANCHARD of Old Town. 
Cosponsored by Senator PERRY of Penobscot and 
/J1~ 
1I7.7!/d£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: BLANCHETTE of Bangor, CAIN of Orono, CARR of Lincoln, CLARK of 
Millinocket, DUCHESNE of Hudson, DUNN of Bangor, FISHER of Brewer. 
Printed on re<)'cled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. I. 30-A MRSA c. 3. sub-c. I, art. IS is enacted to read: 
PENOBSCOT COUNTY BUDGET COMMITrEE 
§900-K. 
Definition~ 
As 
used 
in this article, 
unless 
the 
context 
otherwise 
indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. 
1. 
Budget 
committ~~.-,.,-----__ '-,' 
B"-'u=d=g'='-"'e-"t'-------"c'-"o'-'-'m"'-m"-'~"__· t"'-t~e-"'e_"_----'-'m~e'-'a'""'n,..,s"-----_t""h~e 
Penobscot County Budget Committee. 
2. 
Municipal official. 
"Municipal 
official" 
means 
any 
elected member of a municipal government in Penobscot County. 
§900-L. 
Budget; appropriations and approval 
NotwithstQnding sections 2, 701 
and~7~0~2~'L-=i~n~P~e~n~o~b~s~c,-"o~t~C~o~u~n-"t~y 
the county commissioners may appropriate money according to a 
Q.y.dget that must be prepared and finalized in accordance with 
this article. 
§900-M. 
Budget committee 
Th.!tre 
i~ll.aI;»j,J?l1eQ--.J;.l1e~PenoQ.scot county Budget Commi tte~ 
to carry out the purposes of this article. 
1. 
Membership. 
The 
budget 
committee 
consists 
of 
the 
following members: 
A. 
Two members elected from each commissioner district as 
provided in subsection 2; 
B. 
Two 
municipal 
ofticials 
aPEointed 
by 
each 
county 
commissioner from the commissioner's district; and 
=c-'-. __ 
=O...,n"'e'--------=m""e"'m"'b<-.>e<--'r'--------"o'-'f'--------"t=h=->e'-----"c.o un ty 
e g is 1 at i ve 
de 1 ega t ion 
appointed 
by 
eq.~c~h~_~c~o~u~n~t~y~_~c~o~m~m~i~s~s~i~o~n~e~r~_~f~r~o~m~_~t~h~e 
commissioner's district. 
2. 
Municij?al 
offici9~_eJ,e.ctions. 
Before October 15th of 
every year, the county commissioners shall notify all municipal 
officials 
to 
caucus 
by 
county 
commissioner 
district 
at 
a 
specified date, time and place for the purpose of electing 2 
municipal 
officials 
from 
each 
district 
as 
members 
of 
the 
Page l-LRI035(1) 
budget 
committee. 
Each 
county 
commissioner 
shall 
serve 
as 
nonvoting moderator for that district caucus. 
Nominations must 
be received from the floor. 
The 2 nominees receiving the most 
votes are the budget committee members. 
The 
names of those 
elected by the caucus must be recorded and forwarded to the 
county commissioners. 
3. 
Term: 
vacancy: 
replacement. 
Budget committee members 
serve 2-year terms. 
If a budget committee member ceases to be a 
municipal official during the term of membership, 
the budget 
committee member vacates membership and a 
replacement must be 
appointed by the county commissioner from the district in which 
the vacancy occurred. 
§900-N. 
Budget process 
1. 
P~lic hearing. 
The county commissioners shall hold one 
or more public hearings on the budget at times convenient for the 
residents of the county and before December 16th of each year. 
2. 
Budget; submission to budget committee. 
The Penobscot 
county commissioners shall submit a budget for the coming year to 
the budget committee no later than November 10th of each year. 
The budget committee shall review the budget with the county 
commissioners 
prior 
to 
November 
30th 
and 
make 
additions 
or 
deletions 
to 
the 
budget 
by 
a 
majority vote 
of 
the 
budget 
committee. 
A unanimous 
vote of 
the 
county commissioners 
is 
required to override the budget committee. 
3. 
Assessment 
of 
t~es. 
The 
budget 
adopted 
under 
subsection 2 is the final authorization for the assessment of 
county taxes. 
The 
county tax 
authorized is apportioned 
and 
collected in accordance with section 706. 
4. 
Final budget: filing. 
A copy of the final budget must 
be filed on forms approved by the Department of Audit with the 
State Auditor, who shall retain it for 3 years. 
5. 
Inter im budget. 
the start of the fiscal 
interim budget that does 
year until a final budget 
If the budget is not approved before 
year, 
the county must operate on an 
not exceed the budget of the previous 
is adopted. 
SUMMARY 
This 
bill 
reestablishes 
the 
Penobscot 
County 
Budget 
Committee.