A proposed police officer for Wiscasset's schools drew an initial, mixed response among some of those working on the town's next budget.

Local, county and state law enforcement should be all the service the town needs without adding another officer to the police department, Budget Committee member Bill Barnes said at an April 19 workshop that launched this year's budget talks.

“I'm not for the police officer,” Selectman Jeff Slack said. In a telephone interview April 21, Slack declined to elaborate. He said more discussions will follow at upcoming budget workshops, and he will support whatever the consensus winds up being on the school resource officer.

“It's nothing written in stone,” he said about his April 19 statement.

At Saturday’s workshop, some fellow selectmen expressed support for the new slot that Wiscasset Police Chief Troy Cline put in his budget request.

The school resource officer would help address student substance abuse and other issues in the schools, Cline told the selectmen and budget committee members.

The officer would work three days a week at Wiscasset High School and one each at Wiscasset Primary and Middle schools; and could be called away to a need at any of the schools or an emergency elsewhere in town, Cline said. When school is out for the summer, the town's busiest time of year, the job would shift to patrol work, he said.

The chief first announced in late January that he would ask for the new position. He was speaking then with Wiscasset High School parents about a rising teen substance abuse problem he and Principal Deb Taylor were seeing.

“I think it's very important these kids know they're going to be held accountable,” Cline said at Saturday's workshop.

Having an officer in the schools would also aid the partnership being built between the department and the high school, he said; and it would free him for other work. “I can tell you I spend a good portion of my time at the high school,” Cline said.

The proposed position’s $50,000 cost, including benefits and $39,000 yearly pay, is partly offset by the savings it yields in part-time work, Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish said. Based on that, he estimated the new job's net cost to the town at $36,000 to $39,000.

Selectmen's Chairman Ed Polewarczyk favored the position's inclusion in the budget. “From what I'm hearing from parents, that officer is mandatory. I support that additional officer,” he said.

So did Vice Chairman Judy Colby, in remarks later in the workshop. “This is something I feel that the town needs.

“We have a very bad drug problem in our schools, and if this officer can help, we ought to try it,” Colby said.

With $3.5 million in revenues figured in, the current municipal budget draft stands at $5.3 million. Property taxes would hike $213,719, to $1.8 million. The budget is separate from the one for Wiscasset's new school system.

In other talks April 19, budget committee member Norm Guidoboni asked if the town planner's and code enforcement officer's jobs could be rolled into one.

Town Planner Misty Parker said there is already work she doesn't have time to get to; Gerrish advised against combining the jobs. “Just my opinion, one person can't do all the work .... You won't be productive, you won't get the work done that needs to be done,” he said.