Some surprises in a town’s budget talks can alter the tax outlook; others are notable for other reasons, like on Saturday in Wiscasset.

When Public Works Director Doug Fowler presented the proposed cemeteries budget on April 4, budget committee member Neil Page asked why the town maintains a cemetery he isn’t allowed to be buried in. He had heard that the cemetery on Dorr Road is private.

“Somebody’s getting a freebie,” he said about the cemetery’s maintenance.

Fowler consulted with staff and responded that the department tends the cemetery a few times a year because it always has. Selectmen’s Chairman Pam Dunning supported continuing the practice.

“To me, with all the issues this town faces, two or three hours to mow a lawn to protect the town’s history doesn’t really hit my radar at all ... I’d hate to see it consumed by forestry,” she said.

As town officials talked further, they determined that since no one pays taxes on the cemetery, it must be town property.

“That’s really interesting,” Dunning said during the workshop. “Looks like we own a cemetery we never knew we had.”

Page was still interested in buying a plot. Town Manager Marian Anderson will look into possible sales at the cemetery.

A document on Wiscasset Public Library’s website at wiscasset.lib.me.us/Cemeteries of Wiscasset Maine pdf lists a Marston Cemetery on Route 27 at the Dorr Road entrance. The cemetery has markers dating from the late 1800s to early 1900s for six Marstons and a Mary A. Varney, according to the document. Jane Tucker made the lists from 1975 to 1984, it states.