SKOWHEGAN — Can revenue from boarding federal prisoners be used to pay off debt for construction of the Somerset County Jail, or is it “outside money” that cannot legally be used to reduce county taxes? And is jail debt considered a part of correctional services or not?

Those questions were at the heart of oral arguments Friday in a lawsuit brought by Somerset County against the State Board of Corrections for payment of more than $280,000 the county says it is owed for operations at the Somerset County Jail.

The hearing in Somerset County Superior Court was an appeal of the state board’s decision to deny payment to the county for the third quarter of the 2012-13 fiscal year.

At issue Friday for Maine Supreme Court Justice Donald Alexander: Who has the control or authority to determine what happens to revenue from boarding federal prisoners?

Somerset County Sheriff Barry DeLong said last April that one of the Somerset County Jail’s four pods was closed for renovations and would not reopen until the matter of missing payments from the state is resolved. DeLong also stopped accepting out-of-county inmates last March, even though the jail is one of four flagship county jails created under Maine’s 2008 Jail Consolidation Act for the purpose of housing inmates from other counties.

DeLong held his ground Friday, saying he believes Alexander will rule in favor of the county.

“When is it a bad time to give taxpayers a break? That’s what we’re doing,” DeLong said outside the courtroom Friday. “If we lose this, there’s no purpose in accepting federal inmates. I have one pod still closed now, and depending on how this goes, I might have two closed – I might close the whole jail.”

DeLong said if the state takes over the county jails, as was suggested Thursday in a letter by Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte, then there would no longer be an incentive for Somerset County to continue to maintain its jail.

The civil suit addressed Friday contends that the State Board of Corrections’ vote not to make the third-quarter payment to Somerset County was an unlawful procedure done in the privacy of an executive session without input from county officials or the public. The board “failed to explain the factual or legal basis” for refusing to approve the payment, according to the court document.

Attorney Michael Hodgins, representing Somerset County, said state law does not specifically address the revenue question and therefore it is appropriate that the county use the money to help county taxpayers by paying down the debt on the jail. Somerset County borrowed $30 million to build the county jail in East Madison in 2008 and the annual debt payment is about $2.55 million. The bond is to be paid off over 20 years.

“Debt service for a jail falls under correctional services and should be allowed,” Hodgins told Alexander. “So if the Board of Corrections says Somerset County is doing something inappropriate or illegal, it is not correct.”

The state board does not have the authority to demand that federal revenues to Somerset County be used to offset money owed by the state under the unified jail system adopted in 2008, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Black, who represented the state board, disagreed with that reasoning, saying jail debt payments are not corrections services, which are daily jail operations, routine maintenance or capital expenditures.

“If they are using the revenue from federal boarders to pay down county debt, that’s against the law,” Black said. “Jail debt is not corrections services.”

The county is not allowed to use outside money to pay off its debt, he said.

The jail budget calls for the state to pay $1.12 million to Somerset County for jail operations in the form of quarterly payments of $280,442.

Alexander said he will issue a ruling soon.

Doug Harlow can be contacted at 612-2367 or at:

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Doug_Harlow