Wiscasset Selectmen's Chairman Ed Polewarczyk opposes taking $1.25 million in reserve money to soften a tax hike this year. It opens the door to doing it again, he said.

“The discipline on this thing is going away,” Polewarczyk said in a telephone interview on May 20, shortly after he cast the board's lone dissenting vote. Polewarczyk took part in Tuesday's meeting by telephone; he continues to rehabilitate from knee surgery.

Voters have the final say on whether to reduce taxes with the reserve money. If they take as much as the selectmen and the budget committee are recommending,, a projected 27 percent tax hike would drop to a 9.8 percent hike.

Most of the hike stems from the school budget, as the town enters its first year outside Regional School Unit 12. That budget offer faces a vote at the polls on June 10. Voters kept the school committee's offer intact at a budget meeting May 14.

Withdrawing from the school district was an expensive decision that could continue to be costly after this year, Polewarczyk said. If a school is closed next year, costs to refit the remaining schools could cut into the savings the consolidation brings, he said.

Lowering the town's reserve fund doesn't solve the problem, and it means less money to grow the fund through investing, Polewarczyk said. Eventually, the usual use of the fund, for capital projects and purchases, may no longer be possible, he said.

“It seems to me that we're kicking the can down the road.”

Some board members have called for a gradual repayment of the $1.25 million to the fund. That would take new town votes each year, Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish has said.

Selectmen Pam Dunning and Jeff Slack and Vice Chairman Judy Colby outvoted Polewarczyk on the proposed use of the fund. Selectman Tim Merry was not at the meeting.

In other decisions before signing the town meeting warrant, the board agreed to propose a $150,000 roof replacement for the Wiscasset Community Center, and a police department budget that includes funding for an officer in the town’s schools. The budget committee, whose recommendations will also appear on the warrant, concurred on the reserve fund tap and the roof. The committee opposed funding the school resource officer.

The committee has also passed a resolution calling for a return to deciding the budget at the polls, Chairman Bob Blagden said.