Penobscot County Commissioners Cut Public Hours, Settle Tax Appeal, Review Audit

Penobscot County commissioners voted to set public hours at county offices from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. while keeping staff hours at 8 to 4:30, and approved a reduced property assessment in a tax appeal. They also accepted a new three-year contract for the Burlington-Lowell transfer station, a one-year sand and salt storage contract with Chester, and reallocated about $615,000 in ARPA housing funds to a Millinocket project.

Key points

• Commissioners voted unanimously to make county offices open to the public 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with staff hours remaining 8 to 4:30, citing uniformity and clarity for the public.
• The board voted unanimously to reduce a property assessment in the Mattis appeal from $125,920 to $80,144, a 30 percent reduction, finding the state over-assessed the undeveloped waterfront property.
• Commissioners approved reallocating roughly $615,000 in leftover Penobscot County ARPA housing funds to the Millinocket housing project, on a 3-0 vote.
• The board approved a travel authorization for the EMA deputy director to attend training in Salem, New Hampshire, funded by a Homeland Security grant, though the chair said such routine requests should go through the administrator.
• Commissioners approved a new access control policy for county buildings, including time-limited key cards for vendors and visitors, and accepted a three-year Burlington-Lowell transfer station contract and a one-year Chester storage contract.
• The Register of Deeds reported September revenue of $153,000 and $1.2 million for the year against a $1.25 million budget, and asked that no one be admitted after 4:15 p.m.

Next steps

• The administrator's office will post new public hours on doors and the county website.
• The 2027 budget draft goes to department heads and commissioners next week, with a goal of approval by mid-November.
• The 2025 audit work continues, with a data merge needed before the audit process can begin.
• The county will notify the appropriate parties of the reduced assessment in the Mattis case.

Read the full transcript