Alna selectmen said March 7 they would not support taking out a loan for a new fire truck in 2014. The town shouldn't take on new debt while it's still paying off loans for the fire station addition and a road repaving project, board members said.

Next year, Fire Chief Mike Trask plans to ask voters for the truck, to replace a 1986 one. He recently told selectmen he does not plan to propose any alternatives to a new truck, which he said could run between $250,000 and $300,000.

“I'd like to drive a Cadillac, but that doesn't mean I can afford one,” First Selectman David Abbott said at the board's March 7 meeting. If the town continues setting money aside for a truck, in another four of five years, there would be enough to fully fund it, he said.

The town has $138,000 on reserve for the next fire truck purchase. Another $25,000 is proposed to be added at town meeting. The question's wording gives voters the option to go with a higher or lower amount, however, selectmen said.

The truck came up as selectmen discussed ongoing loan payments that are part of the budget voters face at the annual town meeting, Saturday, March 16.

The town has seven years left to pay on the loan that helped fund the fire station addition, and nine years left on the repaving loan, town officials said.

Trask has said he'll leave it up to selectmen how to propose the town cover the difference between what the town has saved up for a truck and what it will take to buy it.

Reached March 8, Trask said the selectmen will get their instructions from voters next year. If the town doesn't want a truck, the selectmen will have nothing to figure out about funding, he said.

After gathering the truck's specifications and prices from companies, the cost could end up differing from the current estimate, Trask said.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.