SKOWHEGAN — Somerset County commissioners Monday night rejected the $5.766 million county budget for 2014-15 presented to them by the county Budget Committee. The 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Phil Roy of Fairfield the lone hold-out, now sets the stage for a new spending package to be hammered out by commissioners on Wednesday.

That final budget will then go back to the county Budget Committee for reconsideration.

“They just slapped the Budget Committee in the face,” Roy said after the vote. “They rejected their budget and the hard work the Budget Committee has done on this budget.”

The 10-member Budget Committee spent nearly three hours shoehorning budget figures into a spending package Monday night that would make department heads, taxpayers and county commissioners happy.

It included a compromise solution of adding $70,000 for an additional county deputy — the sheriff’s department originally had asked for $125,000 for a new deputy.

A 63 percent increase in domestic violence calls in the county has the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department needing one more patrol deputy, officials have said.

But it wasn’t the spending for the new deputy that commissioners objected to Monday night — it was money to honor contract obligations, County Administrator Dawn DiBlasi said after the vote.

“It doesn’t cover our contract costs — union and non-union contracts,” DiBlasi said. “We were told by the auditor that if we (county commissioners) accept a budget that does not include contract costs, we have a duty to reject that budget. It would be irresponsible to accept that budget.”

Roy disagreed. “There’s plenty of money in this budget that meets our obligations,” he said.

County commissioners will have to come up with a budget figure to give back to the Budget Committee when commissioners convene at 3 p.m. Wednesday. If the Budget Committee can not come up with a two-thirds vote to carry their own spending proposal in the new fiscal year July 1, then the commissioners’ budget carries the day.

A planned public hearing and vote May 29 on the proposed 2014-15 Somerset County budget by the Budget Committee and county commissioners was postponed because proper public notice wasn’t given. Instead of holding a hearing, the commissioners and budget committee headed into a budget workshop to hash out their differences.

That was supposed to have been enough to put the fiscal house in order with a new patrol deputy.

After applying for various grants, the cost to the county of hiring, outfitting and equipping a new deputy would come to $103,722. Officials will ask the budget committee to approve using $343,566 in surplus funds to cover the increase.

The county hoped to use $1.3 million in surplus money. There also is $500,000 in tax relief in the proposed budget, DiBlasi said. That money also would come from surplus.

The county budget is still about $900,000 below the spending cap of $6.8 million imposed by Maine Revenue Services, DiBlasi said.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Doug_Harlow