Wiscasset selectmen reviewed a new $5.7 million budget draft by meeting remotely Thursday evening, March 26. The teleconference was part of town precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, Town Manager John O’Connell presented a 2020-21 municipal budget of just over $6 million – an increase of 5.7 percent over last year. The board asked that it be trimmed. The budget O’Connell presented Thursday was $5.73 million, a 2.8 percent increase over last year. The new draft was a “bare bones budget,” commented Selectman Katharine Martin-Savage.

The board chose to follow Chair Judy Colby’s lead and hold tight on the budget for the time being, “maintain the status quo.” Not knowing what might happen over the next month, O’Connell agreed this was the board’s best option. The town still has three months left in its fiscal year, ending June 30.

In response to a question from Wiscasset Newspaper, O’Connell said the 5 p.m. April 9 deadline to return nomination papers for town offices would stay in place; the June 9 election, at least for now, would go on as scheduled. Candidates can call the town office to arrange to return their papers, he said.

Proposed 2020-21 capital expenditure requests from department heads total $893,000. The funds would come from the town’s capital reserve account. At the close of the stock market Feb. 29, Wiscasset’s capital reserve funds managed by the Portland-based investment firm of H.M. Payson & Co. totaled $11.28 million, a drop of $798,557 from Jan. 31.

The capital requests include $200,000 for an ambulance; $175,000 for a public works truck and $31,000 for a new police cruiser; $150,000 is sought for paving of town roads; $125,000 to buy five generators for the sewer department; $80,000 for parks and recreation roof repair; and $50,000 for culvert replacement. EMS is asking for $27,000 to buy a powered stretcher unit.

Another $40,664 would go to the town pier debt and $22,237 for the lease of a public works back hoe; $33,175 is needed to cover a Maine Department of Transportation utility agreement.

The proposed departmental budget included $582,611 for EMS, up 7.8 percent over last year; police, $463,783, up 6.5 percent; and $637,580 for public works which was about the same amount as last year. The proposed administration line would increase $21,569 to $193,625. The transfer station budget was trimmed $47,174, being reduced to $546,770.

“The drop in the transfer station budget is because we decided not to replace the superintendent’s position. Instead it will fall under the supervision of the public works director,” Colby explained in response to a question during a phone interview with Wiscasset Newspaper prior to the meeting.

The budget draft includes a two percent raise for town employees.

A regular meeting of the board will be held remotely on Tuesday, March 31 beginning at 2 p.m. The board will take up 2020-21 capital reserve requests from department heads. “This will be the way we’ll be conducting our regular select board meetings at least for the foreseeable future,” Colby told Wiscasset Newspaper. “I want the townspeople to understand this is the way the state is recommending we do our business. It’s for everyone’s safety.”

For the present, Colby said, the general public won’t have live access to the select board’s remote meetings. She promised they’ll all be placed on YouTube. Wiscasset Newspaper and Lincoln County News were provided a link to livestream and to ask questions.

O’Connell said COVID-19 directives coming from the state were changing almost daily resulting in uncertainty. Among the unknowns is how the federal economic stimulus might impact state subsidies to municipalities and schools.

The legislature has enacted COVID-19 measures to address municipal budgets. If a town meeting is postponed, municipalities may “continue to fund government operations at the same budget levels approved for the previous year.” And municipal officers may “postpone the date of a scheduled municipal ballot election by posting notice in a public location at least two days prior to the election and to use previously printed ballots.”