The budget initially was over the cap by about $9,000, but Piscataquis County commissioners rectified that on Tuesday by paring the plan by $15,000.

Public comment now will be sought on the spending plan at a hearing at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, in the Superior Court at the county courthouse."I think it's a pretty responsible budget," Commissioner Tom Lizotte said Tuesday.

County Manager Mike Henderson praised county officials for their frugality and the budget committee for its work. "The department heads here at the county were very conscious about trying to keep costs as low as possible and still provide appropriate service," he said this week. "The budget committee really was well informed. They asked some good questions, and I think they were very prepared to dispute anything they thought was not right."

To bring the budget under cap, the commissioners voted on Tuesday to earmark $100,000 rather than $115,000 for the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council. The $100,000 budget reflects an increase of $25,000 over this year. The council had provided three options for funding, ranging from $115,000 to $85,000. The middle option selected will allow the council to hire a part-time specialist to work on economic development efforts.

Before the vote was taken, Commissioner Fred Trask said he thought the county should fund the $115,000 because of the council's successes. Lizotte said he, too, thought the organization had done a good job, but he said he was "loathe to give someone everything they asked for the first time."

To help reduce the assessment to the towns and the unorganized territory, the commissioners agreed to take $19,000 from surplus, leaving that account at $500,000.

Other budget highlights include:
. A 3 percent cost-of-living increase for all employees.
. $3,500 to maintain a former ambulance donated by Dover-Foxcroft to be used by the Emergency Management Agency.
. An increase from 20 to 32 hours for the EMA director and his secretary. The state Community Emergency Response Team will fund 20 of the secretary's hours. In addition, the county is reimbursed by the state for half of the remaining hours for the secretary and half of the director's hours.
. $17,000 for the purchase of a new generator at the EMA bunker in Milo.
. $5,000 to hire a firm to study the county's salary structure.
. Increasing the salaries of the registrars of deeds and probate and the sheriff to ensure that their pay is $1,500 over that of their employees.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Thursday, November 17, 2005 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."