AUBURN — Androscoggin County taxpayers will not have to pay county commissioners’ legal fees in a lawsuit brought against them by a dozen municipalities.

The Maine County Commissioners Association Risk Pool will defend at its expense the commissioners in the suit filed by 12 of the 14 municipalities of Androscoggin County concerning the power of the Budget Committee and concerning commissioners setting their own salaries and benefits.

County Administrator Larry Post announced that development at Wednesday night’s Budget Committee meeting. Post read a letter from Commission Chairwoman Beth Bell, which was released following an executive session by the commissioners with attorneys Bryan Dench and Stephen Wade.

The pool initially denied the commissioners’ request to pay for their legal defense. According to Bell’s letter, it was rejected “on the grounds that none of the claims could possibly be within the coverage afforded.”

Wade, who works for the commissioners’ law firm, Skelton, Taintor & Abbott, and specializes in insurance matters, intervened on the commissioners’ behalf.

“The Risk Pool has now reversed its position and has confirmed that the county and all seven commissioners will be defended in this lawsuit at the expense of the Risk Pool,” Bell wrote in the letter.

With the Risk Pool paying for past and future legal fees, commissioners suggested that their line item in the budget for attorney fees of $150,000 could be cut in half to $75,000.

The Budget Committee went farther and eliminated another $35,000 for a total of $40,000 for attorney fees. That amount is higher than this year’s budgeted amount.

The cut to legal fees was an attempt to get the commissioners to rethink their strategy of spending taxpayer money.

“It’s not at any cost — it’s the cost to the county taxpayers,” said committee member Michael Lachance, a Lewiston city councilor. “There has to be a point where the taxpayers say enough is enough and a line gets drawn.”

In total, the Budget Committee cut $181,694 from the 2016 county budget at Wednesday’s session.

Much of the discussion centered on the commissioners’ salaries and benefits, which is what sparked the fight that is now in court.  

Last year, with the new county charter calling for a new county administrator and four additional commissioners, commissioners proposed cutting their salaries from $7,200 to $5,000 and the chairman’s salery from $8,292 to $5,500. The Budget Committee went farther and cut the salaries to $3,000 and $3,500, respectively, and eliminated health insurance.

The commissioners rejected the committee’s decision and put the amount back at $5,000 and $5,500 with individual health insurance.

With neither side talking to the other, the matter has landed in court.

Lachance took exception to a published report earlier in the week at a meeting in Turner, where Commissioner Sally Christner said she knew of no offer from the municipalities to sit down and discuss their differences.

“Right after the Budget Committee adjourned and the commissioners voted on the budget, the Budget Committee formally sent letters to the commissioners requesting that we meet, and it was rebuffed every time,” Lachance said. “The municipalities then got together and did the same thing. And the lawyers did the same thing and there was no response.”

With Post now working as the administrator, the committee felt he was doing most of the work previously done by the commissioners and their compensation should be adjusted to reflect that change. 

Budget Committee member Guy Desjardins of Sabattus pointed out that no commissioners have attended any of the Budget Committee meetings.

“I’m old-fashioned, but if you work for me, you’ll get paid,” he said. “If you don’t, you don’t get paid.”

Lewiston councilor Shane Bouchard said it wasn’t right for commissioners to get paid more than city councilors from Lewiston, Auburn and other towns, who work more and have far more responsibilities.

Committee Chairwoman Emily Darby urged her colleagues not to be spiteful and not to be swayed by the legal issues.

“In good faith, I’d like to see it at the same amount as last year’s proposal at $3,000,” Darby said.

The committee approved that amount by a 12-2 vote.

Also on the chopping block was the commissioners’ health insurance. Greene Selectman Tony Reny moved to cut $41,474 from county health insurance fund — the amount that covers the seven commissioners, which passed unanimously.

Included in that amount is $8,491 apiece for three commissioners, while the four other commissioners accepted a buyout that pays them an additional $4,000 on top of their $5,000 stipend.

No budget changes were made to Human Resources, Auditing, Contingency and Treasurer accounts.

Concerned whether the county was over budgeting the Insurance account — specifically workers’ compensation — the committee tabled the issue to Thursday.

Thursday’s meeting will also include the budget for the Sheriff’s Department and Communications.

ssherlock@sunjournal.com