Alna selectmen on April 20 decided to ask a resident for $225 back out of the $300 deputy treasurer stipend they said he was paid. But after the Wiscasset Newspaper followed up with the man April 21, board members said they will look further into the matter and then may drop it.

Speaking on a warrant article at the annual town meeting in March, Jeff Philbrick said he was deputy treasurer. Selectmen have said the reference surprised them.

Board members have said they didn’t realize Philbrick still considered himself deputy treasurer after Aaron Miller resigned as treasurer in April 2015. They did not recall any service by Philbrick after that. Third Selectman Doug Baston wondered why, considering the town’s publicized efforts to sort out payroll tax issues last year.

But Philbrick’s stipend was issued along with all the others the town gave out for the year, Baston said. “That’s where we made our mistake,” Baston said about the fact the board did not, at the time, question the length of Philbrick’s service.

Philbrick was not at the April 20 meeting. Reached by email April 21, he wrote: “(This) comes as a surprise. I am almost certain I backed up (interim treasurer Honora Perkins) last summer while she was on vacation, as I had done for several years prior.”

After Miller resigned, Perkins, no longer an Alna resident, agreed to come aboard as interim treasurer. At selectmen’s request, she continued efforts Miller had begun to resolve state and federal tax problems that officials said arose during his tenure. In October 2015, the board agreed to hire the town’s former auditor Bill Brewer for an estimated $1,000 to $1,500 to amend payroll filings and address record-keeping errors selectmen said dated to when Miller was treasurer.

Selectmen on April 20 said they were awaiting word from Brewer on how much the tax errors wound up costing the town; they have said it appeared to be at least a few thousand dollars.

Baston suggested the board look at replacing the deputy treasurer’s annual stipend with hourly pay to reflect the time the person puts in. Under the current setup, a deputy treasurer only has to breathe to make the same money someone who makes $10 an hour would have to work 30 hours for, he said.

The board directed Town Clerk Lisa Arsenault to write Philbrick and ask for the $225 back; that’s three-quarters of the past year’s stipend. But the next morning, the Wiscasset Newspaper contacted Philbrick, who wrote that he is sure his signature is on a few cancelled payroll checks from last summer.

The newspaper then contacted First Selectman David Abbott, who said he would look into it and, if it bears out, he would be in favor of dropping the payback request. He hadn’t felt strongly about it anyway, he said.

Baston had proposed seeking the money. Reached April 21, he said he, too, favors dropping the matter if Philbrick provided the service.

Friday evening, Alna treasurer Amy Warner said a check of records had just found that Philbrick signed two payroll checks at the end of July. Warner had reviewed the records following the newspaper’s inquiry.

In March, Warner wrapped up several years’ service as town clerk and was uncontested in her election to treasurer. Perkins will serve as deputy treasurer, town officials have said.

Town meeting voters agreed to stop electing treasurers and have selectmen hire them instead, beginning in 2017. Selectmen sought the move to ensure treasurers are qualified for the work. They have said they plan to appoint Warner when her one-year elective term runs out next March.