Wiscasset selectmen Sept. 16 settled on taking the highest amount Town Manager Dennis Simmons recommended from the fund balance to offset taxes. Before tapping it for $750,000 to get to a tax rate of $11.59 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, members debated taking more or stopping at the $750,000 to help avoid a tax cliff in the coming years.

Chair Alissa Eason said it is good to have a rainy day fund, but also good to use it, "when it's needed." She and others agreed this is a hard year for taxpayers with their fuel and other costs up. And Simmons reminded the board of the millions of dollars in infrastructure work the town faces, including $61 million for a new wastewater treatment plant.

Eason and Selectman Heather Jones spoke of possibly taking more of the fund balance to help people more. Member Sarah Whitfield wanted to spread that help over more years by sticking with the $750,000 tap this year. It would be prudent for taxpayers to pay a little more now than to have to figure out how to fund the plant out of their own pockets, Vice Chair Pamela Dunning said. Member Cassaundra Rose wondered if Wiscasset could do as some places do offering local rebates to add to the state ones for residents to take money-saving steps such as getting heat pumps. 

Simmons offered three scenarios for the board to consider: Taking nothing from the fund balance to offset taxes would mean a $12.40 rate; taking $500,000, an $11.86 rate; or taking $750,000 as he recommended, for a rate of $11.59.

Normally, he wouldn't recommend taking so much, he said. "Especially with some of the headwinds that we have in front of us in terms of capital projects ... But with the situation that our taxpayers are in this year and everybody else is in this year, it is my opinion we need to do everything we can to help them through a difficult time."

As for taking even more out, Simmons said if the fund balance is tapped steeply rather than gradually, "You're going to face a cliff at some point, and people are going to be really angry when you hit them with a 20% tax increase in one year."

The $750,000 tap and $11.59 rate passed 5-0.

Last year's rate was $13.67. But properties' valuations were upped 20% this year to keep the homestead exemption in tact as the town awaits the revaluation. So, despite the lower rate, bills are up: For example, a home valued at $200,000 last year, taxed at $175,000 after the homestead exemption, came out to $2,392 in taxes under last year's rate. This year, that home would be valued at $240,000, or $215,000 after the exemption. At the just approved $11.59 rate, the tax is $2,491, according to information Simmons provided.