How would Wiscasset absorb the funding cuts Gov. Paul LePage has proposed?

Budget Committee member Bob Blagden wondered that April 9, as selectmen eyed a budget proposal that doesn't take the potentially big hit into account.

“What about if that (money) never shows,” Blagden asked. “I just wondered if you have a fallback position, if you had to go find a couple hundred thousand dollars, rather than going back to the taxpayers.”

The loss might be addressed with shutdown days or other measures, Board Chairman Pam Dunning said.

Selectman Ed Polewarczyk described the state cuts as likely, but, he said, “I don't know how to plan for what (the state) might do.”

The cuts could cost Wiscasset $400,000, enough to raise the tax rate by $1 for every $1,000 of a property's assessed valuation, according to Town Manager Laurie Smith.

Voters will decide the budget at the polls June 11. If everything passes as currently proposed and other pieces fall into place, the town would need roughly $380,000 less from property taxpayers this year, Smith said.  Those other pieces include flat county and education bills, and no loss in state funding.

The board tweaked ballot questions and will take one more look April 16. By then, the budget committee hopes to also be ready with its recommendations.

Selectmen's latest revisions included paring proposed contingency funding by $10,000, putting it at $40,000; and cutting the contribution to the Wiscasset Public Library to $60,000.

The library asked the town for $68,100, and will be taking $47,500 out of its endowment, Selectman Judy Colby said. “They're not even taking out enough to match us,” she said.

Last year's one-time cost to study a withdrawal from Regional School Unit 12 accounts for a $55,000 chunk of this year's proposed savings for taxpayers. The code enforcement officer would go from 25 to 20 hours a week and, in other cuts, part-time reserve police officers would be paid less; Smith is projecting a boost in revenues, including a proposed switch to charging transfer station users by the bag.

Comments on the bag idea were mixed.

Most towns that try it end up backing out, because it doesn't work out well financially for them, Selectman William Curtis said.

But the station's superintendent Ron Lear said he believes more towns are adding pay-as-you-throw programs than are abandoning them.

It's the fairest way to deal with trash, Lear said.

Voters would have to approve the change, which calls for charging $2 and $1.25 for two different bag sizes, Smith said.

Dunning called the anticipated revenue uptick from pay-as-you-throw  her biggest concern with the budget, since it hinges on voters allowing the change.

Board rejects bigger cut to senior center funding

Senior Center leaders had the impression they needed to find big savings, but maybe not quite as big as they thought.

The center's chairman Ellie Tracy came forward with trustees' unanimous approval of changes, including an end to Tuesday lunches and a cut in hours for the person who washes dishes.

The loss of the Tuesday lunches could drive some members away, Polewarczyk said. “We're causing the beginning of the end,” he said.

Selectmen decided the center's newly proposed $37,053 budget would be too small. They held it to $51,528, compared to last year's $60,000. They said it's up to the center's trustees to decide whether or not to restore the Tuesday lunches.

The board's April 16 meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the municipal meeting room.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.