Lincoln County commissioners got some good news from Treasurer Donald Williams at their meeting Tuesday, when he reported a year end surplus of $650,000.

County Administrator James McMahon said there is a surplus because more revenue came in than was estimated, while spending was less than what was budgeted.

"Lincoln County is very careful to save money," McMahon said. "We do everything we can to save the taxpayers money."

However, McMahon cautioned the commissioners about using all of the surplus to lower taxes this year.

"You would be a hero this year, but next year you would be the enemy when you would have to raise the taxes to make it up," McMahon said.

Other than perhaps using a portion of the surplus to lower taxes, another item discussed was to make changes in the parking lots which could range from $189,000 to $256,000.

For several months the commissioners have been dealing with the lack of adequate parking for the courthouse, communications center and the sheriff's department. The commissioners authorized McMahon to hire an engineer to review the parking lots and come up with a proposal.

The commissioners took no action on the three proposals the county received, varying in price and scope from $11,000 to $44,000. Bids were received from E.S. Coffin, Augusta; Sight Lines, Brunswick; and SMRT, Portland.

Included in the SMRT bid was an estimated construction cost of $189,000 to $256,000.

McMahon told the commissioners they could use some of the surplus money to repair the parking lots all at one time or they could extend it out over two or three years. He recommended the commissioners take no action until their next meeting on June 2, which would allow time to bring Commissioner Kenneth Honey, who was not present at the meeting, up to date on the issue. According to Commissioner Sheridan Bond, Honey fell last week and was hospitalized at Maine Medical Center for four or five days and transferred to St Andrews Hospital Tuesday morning.

The commissioners approved a request from Emergency Management Director Tim Pellerin to hire Kimberly Kaiser of Woolwich as the new deputy director of finance and administration.

Other items on Pellerin's agenda included: presenting the commissioners with a list of local EMA Directors within Lincoln County; reporting that there was $170,000 worth of damage in the county during the April heavy rains; announcing that the Maine Emergency Management Agency Director Robert McAleer will be sending out a letter to all EMA directors in the county outlining the National Incident Management System Training Requirements (NIMS) which is required for any federal or state funding; applying for a Public Safety Interoperable grant to replace the county's mobile command vehicle; and announcing there will be a Homeland Security drill October 17- October 24.

Pellerin will attend the Rockland County, N.Y. fire academy next week. The fire fighters from Lincoln County and surrounding towns have been going to the fire academy every other year since 1991 for training.

The commissioners gave a warm welcome to the newest member of the canine unit Tuesday morning.

Chance, a nearly two-year-old black lab behaved very well when he was brought into the meeting by his trainer, Deputy Alan Shea.

Shea explained that Chance will be trained in drug and narcotic tracking to replace Oscar, the shepherd that is retiring, after about 11 years, at the end of the year.

Chance is expected to have her training completed by October, and ready to take over when Oscar retires.

"She will make a good tracker. She is built close to the ground," Shea said.

According to Sheriff Todd Brackett, Chance's purchase was made possible by the Heidi Fund. This fund was established in 1994 to buy police dogs for the county, and has been strongly supported by Katharine Martin-Savage, who made a contribution at the meeting.

The fund was established in memory of another Lincoln County K-9 Deputy, Heidi, who received numerous state and national awards with her handler. Clayton Jordan.

Contributions to the Heidi Fund have been received from citizens, school children, and civic groups throughout the county. It is one of the longest running canine programs in the state, according to the sheriff's department.

Bintliff's Ocean Grill in Edgecomb will devote a "Just Desserts" in July to the Heidi Fund, according to Martin-Savage.

Brackett reported there are 28 Lincoln County Inmates at the Two Bridges Regional Jail, with 20 on either house arrest, or other diversion programs. Eighteen offenders have been diverted by the Volunteers of America.

The county has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District to accept their compost at the county recycling center.

The commissioners rejected the bids from Maine Power Options (MPO) for heating oil. The bids received from C.M Brown, M.W. Sewall, and Webber Company through MPO were just under $4.60 per gallon.

The commissioners approved the purchase of an air conditioner for the multi-purpose meeting room at the courthouse at a cost of $3,200 and the purchase of a Marvin historic window for the district attorney's office.

McMahon was given approval to move forward in expanding the universal waste program. McMahon said the county is already licensed to accept universal waste beyond what it is accepting currently, which includes televisions, computers, keyboards, scanners, printers, copiers, fax machines, cell phones, and computer components such as hard drives, mother boards, and CD-Rom drives.

Should the program be expanded, it could include batteries, thermostats containing mercury, fluorescent lights, and other items.

Bond, who also serves as the Lincoln Sagadahoc Jail Authority chairman, said with the recent resignation of the jail administrator, Leonard LeGrand, last week, the authority will take another look at the jail budget at the authority's next meeting on Wednesday, June 4.