The Westport Island Board of Selectmen spent much of their meeting Monday evening going over the 43 articles on the town warrant. Town meeting will be Saturday, June 16, at 9 a.m.

According to First Selectman George Richardson, should the voters approve all the articles on the warrant there would be an increase of $109,000 from last year’s budget. That includes about $35,000 in the municipal budget – with $27,000 of that the payment on the town’s new fire truck – and a little more than $57,000 increase in the town’s portion of the district school budget.

The selectmen are recommending a 1.75 percent increase in town officers’ salaries, which would provide an increase of $60 per year for the selectmen. Last year Westport Island raised $67,578 for town officers’ salaries, this year the selectmen are recommending $68,759, an increase of $1,181.

It is unclear at press time if the town’s Budget Committee will recommend the increases. The selectmen will meet with them this week to determine what the Budget Committee will be recommending on the warrant articles.

There is a $5,000 decrease in county taxes, a decrease of just under $5,000 in the budget for town office maintenance and operation, and a substantial decrease in service organizations request, Richardson said. The decrease in donations is due to the Wiscasset Library lowering their request from $9,200 last year to $5,153 this year.

Other warrant articles relating to Wiscasset include $71,064 for Westport Island’s share of the Wiscasset Transfer Station operating expenses; a $3,000 donation requested by the Wiscasset Ambulance Service; and $4,308 for resident status for Westport Island residents at the Wiscasset Community Center.

The selectmen decided they would not make a recommendation, either in favor or opposed, to an article recommended by the Town Hall Committee to raise $4,500 to upgrade the lighting in the town hall. They all agreed to leave it up to the voters.

Voters are also asked to approve an article to raise $20,000 to be set aside in a reserve account for a property revaluation in 2014-2015, according to the selectmen.

In other business, the selectmen held a public hearing on changes to General Assistance for the coming year. Following an uneventful public hearing, the selectmen voted to accept the changes and forward them to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Westport Island selectmen meet at the town office every Monday at 7 p.m.