BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Today there are over three thousand
counties in the United States with sixteen being in Maine. This unit of local
government came to America from England along with many of our other
governmental and political traditions.
In England, counties are called shires and, for many years, one of the
chief officials in the English shire was the shire-reeve. In the United States today, that same
official is known as the Sheriff. This
is just one example of how our current political names and traditions are linked
to our English heritage.
In Maine, as throughout New England,
counties have been much slower to grow as regional units of government due
chiefly to our early settlement patterns and the early growth of towns and the
town meeting form of government. (Outside of New England, counties are much
stronger units of local government - often performing most of the functions
performed by municipalities here in New England.) Originally established to provide certain court,
jail and road functions, counties in Maine have always performed regional
government functions. They still do as
illustrated by the information provided on this Website. In addition to performing their current
regional duties, state law allows counties to partner with municipalities to perform
functions that are mutually beneficial to both levels of government. Lincoln County has taken the lead in doing
this with its Recycling & E-Waste Program, its County Planner and its
County Economic Development Director.
Each county is governed by a Board of
County Commissioners who are elected for four year terms on a partisan
basis. Typically, the Chairmanship of
the Board is rotated annually. As allowed by state law, some Boards of
Commissioners have hired administrators/managers and some County voters have
approved charters for their Counties as municipalities often do.
Here in Lincoln County, the
Board of Commissioners has adopted the statutory county administrator plan of
government.
By state law, the Board of Commissioners
has the responsibility to prepare an annual Budget for the County, to approve
the hiring and termination of employees and to exercise certain other duties as
specified in the law. When the initial
Budget is proposed, it is first submitted to the County Budget Committee which
reviews it and makes recommendations on it.
(The Budget Committee process varies from county to county as prescribed
by state law.) Once the County Budget is
finally adopted, the County sends a tax assessment to each of its
municipalities based on the state property valuation of each. The county assessment is then added to the
municipal and school assessments and is included in the annual tax commitment
in each municipality within the county - resulting in the property tax bill you
receive each year from your municipality.
A Commissioner is elected from each of
three Districts within the County.
Current Commissioner
Districts are: District 1 (Boothbay,
Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb, Southport, Westport Island & Wiscasset);
District 2 (Bremen, Bristol,
Monhegan Plantation, Nobleboro, South Bristol & Waldoboro); District 3 (Alna, Damariscotta,
Dresden, Jefferson, Newcastle, Hibbets Gore, Somerville & Whitefield).
The
Board of Commissioners normally meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each
Month starting at 9 A.M. at the Courthouse in Wiscasset. Additional Meetings are held when needed and
during the preparation of the Budget.
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