Wiscasset selectmen will meet with the budget committee for a special meeting 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 11 at the town office.

The agenda includes a discussion of a forthcoming town meeting for consideration of two articles. One would be to fund the first quarterly loan payment for financing a $2 million loan for the school department to cover costs of withdrawing from Regional School Unit 12. The first loan payment of $57,058 due in mid-April was inadvertently left out of this year’s budget.

Last month, selectmen borrowed $2 million from The First of Damariscotta to pay back costs associated with leaving the district and forming a local school department. The First was the lowest of three bidders offering a fixed 2.56 percent interest rate for financing the 10-year loan. Selectmen’s Chairman Ben Rines Jr. has said putting the loan out to bid saved the town approximately $18,800 in interest over the term of the loan.

Funds needed for furnace

Monies are also needed to cover the cost of replacing the furnace and heating system in the Wiscasset Municipal Airport’s administration building. Since the oil furnace failed earlier this winter, the building has been heated with pellet stoves and electric space heaters. At their Feb. 2 meeting, selectmen opened five bids for the new heating system that ranged from $11,000 to $21,000. Selectmen have not settled on an amount,allowing the town manager time to review the bid packages with the airport manager. The old furnace was installed in the 1980s.

Selectmen hoped to cover the furnace expense out of their contingency account. Monies instead were used to purchase both a new all-wheel drive SUV cruiser for the police department, for $36,000 and a used four-wheel drive brush truck for the fire department for $7,500.

Rines said, pending approval of the townspeople, both the loan installment, and cost of replacing the heating system would come from the town’s undesignated fund balance. Sometimes referred to as “surplus,” Rines noted the town manager estimated there’s approximately $1.4 million left in this line of the budget.

“We won’t have a dollar amount until after we meet on Thursday evening which is why we called the special meeting to get answers to this question and others,” he added.

A discussion is also slated how the board will proceed with consideration of the 2016-17 town budget. Last year both boards met together, the town manager providing a joint presentation. In previous years selectmen reviewed the budget before it went to the budget committee for their recommendations.

Rines said he prefers the old way of having selectmen seeing the budget first. “It is our budget, we’re the ones responsible for it,” he said but added the decision rested with the entire board.

Cliff Hendricks presently chairs the budget committee. Other budget committee members include Joe Marshall, Tanya Bailey, Kristen Draper and Vincent Thibeault.