The county's Advisory Budget Committee has met twice to review the department heads' budgets and made their recommendations to the commissioners.

The increase is due to Lincoln County's share of the operating cost of the new Two Bridges Jail, estimated to be $2.5 million, which includes the payment on the bond to build the jail.

Jail Administrator Wayne Applebee met with the commissioners Tuesday, November 15 to discuss the operating budget with them.

The personnel cost totals $2.2 million for the 2006 year. One of the items questioned by Commissioner William Blodgett is the 12-week training period for the personnel.

Applebee told the commissioners the concept of the direct supervision jail is a lot different from the linear type of jail. The linear type of jail has a barrier between the correctional officers and the inmates like the current county jail.

With the direct supervision concept there are no barriers between the correctional officers and the general population, and a single officer actively supervises a group of 30 - 50 inmates.

"There is a lot of training required for the officers before we can put them in that environment, it is totally different," Applebee said.

However, Applebee did say there could be some cuts in the operating budget as far as the commodities are concerned because he had figured on a population of 120 inmates when the doors open in of November 2006.

Applebee told the commissioners it was difficult to come up with a budget for a facility that had not opened yet. He said, "This is my best estimate. Is it a good estimate? I don't know."

The budget committee has recommended a decrease in the Emergency Management budget of about $2,000; a decrease in the Sheriff's budget of about $47,000. These recommendations are not deducted from the total budget figure.

The commissioners will hold a meeting December 6, with the county department heads to discuss their budgets before making a decision on the 2006 budget.

The commissioners will consider the following department totals: District Court, $35,000 Superior Court, $35,000 Emergency Mgmt, $110,000 District Attorney, $100,000 County Commissioners, $193,000 County Treasurer, $60,000 County Buildings, $197,000 Lincoln County Jail, $1.5 million Telecommunications, $602,000 Registry of Deeds, $193,000 Registry of Probate $94,000 Sheriff's Department $1.4 million Advertising & Promotion, $2,000 Auditing, $9,000 Debt Service, $1.1 million Interest,$40,000 Planning & Econ Dev, $116,000 Solid Waste Mgmt, $285,000 Employee Benefits, $1.2 million Extension Assoc. $50,000 County Copiers, $11,000 Program Grants, $26,000 Insurance, $199,000 Reserve Accounts, $1.5 million Estimated Revenues, $1.2 million Total Expenditures $9.3 million