WALDO COUNTY, Maine — Waldo County officials are struggling to explain their use of public funds as locals have begun questioning oddities in the county commission’s records.

Missing minutes, short staffing and foggy memories in the rural midcoast county have prevented officials from answering repeated questions about how the county commission spent more than $100,000 of opioid settlement funds and filled a $580,000 error in the county jail budget last year.

Maine’s counties have been receiving opioid settlement funds since 2022, with millions more set to be disbursed over the next 13 years. Some Waldo County residents took an interest in the commission’s work as The Maine Monitor reported that the county had spent thousands in opioid funds without disclosing where the money went.

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