Due to Governor Paul LePage's budget curtailment proposals, a $508,918 payment from the state Board of Corrections investment fund to Two Bridges Jail in Wiscasset is late, according to Board of Corrections Chairman Mark Westrum.

The payment was due January 1 and is supposed to fund operational costs for the third quarter of the fiscal year – January, February and March.

The delay affects other county jails as well. The BOC said they will decide what jails will receive a payment, how much they will get, or if they will receive anything at their next meeting February 19. At that meeting, the BOC said they will also determine the criteria they will to distribute the funds.

“We need to look at every dollar we spent in dealing with these budget curtailments,” Westrum said.

In April 2008, the legislature passed An Act to Better Coordinate and Reduce the Cost of the Delivery of State and County Correctional Services.

This legislation created a State Board of Corrections to develop and implement a unified state and county correctional system; and, it capped the amount counties could raise from taxation for the support of corrections to the 2008 level.

The investment fund receives revenue from the counties within the state that had mission changes due to the new legislation of the unified corrections system and from state appropriation. The counties of Waldo, Oxford and Franklin all had mission changes.

Two Bridges is one of four flagship jails under the new unified system, the other three being Cumberland, York and Somerset.

As a flagship jail, Two Bridges houses inmates from other counties and the Department of Corrections as well as serving Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties.

In October 2009, the Waldo County Jail closed and became a Pre-release Center with a 72-holding facility. All of Waldo County's inmates are now housed at Two Bridges Regional Jail as well as the overflow from Kennebec and Penobscot.

In addition, Two Bridges contracts with the Maine Department of Corrections to house up to 25 state prisoners.

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com.