The Penobscot County budget committee approved a 14.8 million dollar budget Wednesday.

Which is about 400,000 more than last year's budget.

County Administrator Bill Collins says the county will lose 140,000 dollars in income next year due to the Superior and District Courts relocation.

Collins says they hope to make up for the lost revenue and increased costs by renting out office space in the former Superior Courthouse, to non-profit organizations.

The budget committee also agreed to reduce the Penobscot County Sheriff's budget by 100,000 dollars.

Collins says the Sheriff asked for eight new vehicles and they were only able to approve four new ones.

" We realize the economy isn't positive. With the move with the courthouse that really just compounded the issue for us and the commissioners of Penobscot County are very frugile. But this year we really had to tighten the belt and as such the different departments are going to experience. We really have to do as good of a job as we can with the money we have."

A public hearing on the budget is tentatively set for 10 am on Tuesday December 15.

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