The Edgecomb Budget Committee filled a few more "holes" in the proposed 2026 budget sheet March 9 in  a workshop with the selectboard. The committee and selectmen reached a consensus on Fire Chief Roy Potter's proposed salary after a 40-plus minute discussion.

Potter is the town's full-time chief with a salaried position. Debate centered around whether Potter should receive additional pay for responding to emergency calls or for training outside his regular hours. Top pay for training and call-out pay is $20 per hour. Potter qualifies for each.

Potter settled the conversation by proposing a 6.8% pay increase to $32.50 per hour, bringing his salary to $72,771 with no call pay. Potter told town officials he worked 155 hours outside his regular schedule responding to calls. "I'm at the point where I need to think about retirement," he said. "There are no benefits so I need to start planning for my future."

Budget Committee Chairman Jack Brennan also shared some good news with Potter, who presented a $125,558 fire department operational budget. Brennan ran the figures and determined the proposed increase wasn't 4%, but rather 1%.

Brennan also spoke on the committee's behalf regarding the Edgecomb school budget. The school committee has finalized its recommendation with a $4,539,384 2026-27 proposed budget which is a 9.2% spending increase. At first, school officials thought the proposal would be a 10.1% assessment increase.

But later, school officials realized a calculation error was made. The actual proposed assessment increase is 17.4%. On March 2, School Committee Chairman Heather Sinclair sent the following response by email to the Boothbay Register: "On the floor of town meeting last year, we adopted an alternative assessment figure that was $200,000 lower than planned, relying on an unaudited figure for the unassigned fund balance," she wrote. "In terms of this year's budget, the assessment is up 10.1% based on the planned assessment figure for last year, and up 17.4% based on the actual assessment after the modified use of unassigned fund balance."

Town officials want to establish a capital fund account for various municipal and school projects. Potter reported current problems with the fire station's paving. Sinclair had the same concerns about the school pavement. Potter also reported concerns about several other fire station-related projects such as the generator, furnace, roof and siding.

Following the meeting, Brennan responded to the Boothbay Register's question regarding establishing capital accounts. "While we have been thinking for a long time about the possibility of putting together some type of committee to explore capital needs, nothing has been established at this point," he wrote.

Resident Joel Morley recommended town officials become more "proactive" regarding problems with their facilities maintenance. He spoke about his time leading a business and how being "proactive versus reactive" saved money in the long run. He also volunteered to check into BRYMCA's generator.

Brennan believes the generator could solve one of the fire department's needs while Potter is concerned about putting money into an older piece of equipment. Town officials await Morley's opinion regarding the cost-effectiveness of purchasing the Y's used generator.

Selectmen began working on town meeting warrant questions following the  meeting with the budget committee.

On March 17, selectmen will fill in remaining budget hole proposals and finalize the May 16 town meeting referendum warrant.