Penobscot County is thinking about increasing its budget by about $2.3 million in 2024, making it a total of $29,204,636. Most of this increase is for paying employees more money.
They want to use the budget to pay for different things. The biggest chunk, about $15.8 million, will go to paying the people who work for the county. Another part, around $3.5 million, will be for services and utilities, and the rest will be for supplies, materials, and big projects.
To get the money for this budget, they might increase taxes by 8.5 percent. This means people in the county might have to pay a bit more in taxes.
The county looked at how much they pay their workers and found out they were paying less than other places. So, they want to give their employees a raise of up to 15 percent for each job.
They also talked about the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. They might spend about $8.3 million on it. This includes money for cameras and bullets. The cost of bullets has gone up, so they need more money for that.
They also discussed the jail and how it needs repairs. They are thinking about building a new jail, but they are still figuring out where to put it. They might vote on this budget on December 12th.
