By C1 Staff
AUGUSTA — Lawmakers are demanding more details about a bill that would dissolve the state’s Board of Corrections and return control of county jails to county governments.
LD 186 would see the state continue to fund the 15 county jails with about $12.2 million a year, but would eliminate a system of shared governance that many have said hasn’t worked since it was put in place in 2007, according to the Sun Journal.
Maine county jails cost about $80 million to operate in 2014, with the counties paying about $62 million of that based on a 2008 law that capped what counties could collect from property taxes to pay for jails. The state picked up the difference.
Lawmakers are looking for more information on a provision in the bill that would provide state funding to county jails based on a competitive grant system instead of a need-based formula.
Critics of the bill are worried that it would push more jail costs to local property taxes.