An Act Requiring the State To Fund 20.25 Percent of the Cost of County Jails
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 0678
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: STANLEY, HICKMAN, NADEAU, TUCKER, TUELL
Amends: 30-A MRSA §701

Legislative Document
No. 678
H.P. 499
House of Representatives, February 7, 2019
An Act Requiring the State To Fund 20.25 Percent of the Cost of 
County Jails
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative STANLEY of Medway.
Cosponsored by Representatives: HICKMAN of Winthrop, NADEAU of Winslow, TUCKER 
of Brunswick, TUELL of East Machias.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  30-A MRSA §701, sub-§2-C, as repealed and replaced by PL 2017, c. 
475, Pt. A, §50, is amended to read:
2-C.  Tax assessment for correctional services beginning July 1, 2015.  Beginning 
July 1, 2015, the counties shall annually collect no less than $62,172,371 from 
municipalities for the provision of 79.75% of the cost of county correctional services in 
accordance with this subsection.  The counties may collect an amount that is more than 
the base assessment limit established in this subsection, except that the additional amount 
each year may not exceed the base assessment limit as adjusted by the growth limitation 
factor established in section 706-A, subsection 3 or 4%, whichever is less.  If a county 
collects in a year an amount that is more than the base assessment limit established for 
that county pursuant to this subsection, the base assessment limit in the succeeding year is 
the amount collected in the prior year.  For the purposes of this subsection section, 
"correctional services" includes management services, personal services, contractual 
services, commodity purchases, capital expenditures and all other costs, or portions 
thereof, necessary to maintain and operate correctional services.  "Correctional services" 
does not include county jail debt unless there is a surplus in the account that pays for 
correctional services at the end of the state fiscal year.
The assessment to municipalities within each county may not be less than the base 
assessment limit, which is:
A.  A sum of $4,287,340 in Androscoggin County;
B.  A sum of $2,316,666 in Aroostook County;
C.  A sum of $11,575,602 in Cumberland County;
D.  A sum of $1,621,201 in Franklin County;
E.  A sum of $1,670,136 in Hancock County;
F.  A sum of $5,588,343 in Kennebec County;
G.  A sum of $3,188,700 in Knox County;
H.  A sum of $2,657,105 in Lincoln County;
I.  A sum of $1,228,757 in Oxford County;
J.  A sum of $5,919,118 in Penobscot County;
K.  A sum of $878,940 in Piscataquis County;
L.  A sum of $2,657,105 in Sagadahoc County;
M.  A sum of $5,363,665 in Somerset County;
N.  A sum of $2,832,353 in Waldo County;
O.  A sum of $2,000,525 in Washington County; and
P.  A sum of $8,386,815 in York County.
Sec. 2.  30-A MRSA §701, sub-§5 is enacted to read:
5.  State share for county correctional services.  The Department of Corrections 
shall reimburse a county an amount equal to 20.25% of the cost of correctional services 
incurred by that county.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Corrections to reimburse a county for 20.25% of 
the cost of the county's correctional services.