MACHIAS, Maine — Washington County commissioners presented a 2026 budget that includes a 40% budget hike at a lengthy and packed public hearing Thursday at which residents lambasted officials trying to manage a fiscal crisis.

The proposed budget is due to receive edits from an advisory committee. It undergirds a $11 million bond issue up for a referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot. Overhanging the budget meeting was the possibility that voters, outraged by mismanagement and frustrated by high taxes, might reject the bond the proposed budget is meant to support.

The bond would allow the county to refinance its debts after years of budget mismanagement drained its reserves. After years of spending money without verifying how much was really present in accounts, the budget ran dry earlier this

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