An Act Requiring the State To Reimburse Counties for All Costs Exceeding the Tax Assessment for Correctional Services
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 0460
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: STANLEY, FARRIN, CAMPBELL, NADEAU, SKOLFIELD, TUCKER, VEROW, WHITE
Amends: 30-A MRSA §701

Legislative Document
No. 460
H.P. 344
House of Representatives, January 29, 2019
An Act Requiring the State To Reimburse Counties for All Costs 
Exceeding the Tax Assessment for Correctional Services
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 Senator FARRIN of Somerset and
Representatives: CAMPBELL of Orrington, McCREA of Fort Fairfield, NADEAU of 
Winslow, SKOLFIELD of Weld, TUCKER of Brunswick, VEROW of Brewer, WHITE of 
Waterville.
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Sec. 1.  30-A MRSA §701, sub-§2-C, as repealed and replaced by PL 2017, c. 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 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.  If the annual costs for correctional services in a county exceed the 
assessment collected that year by the county, the Department of Corrections shall 
reimburse the county in an amount equal to the difference between the costs and the 
assessment.  For the purposes of this subsection, "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.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Corrections to reimburse a county for the annual 
costs of correctional services that exceed the county's tax assessment for those services.