In a 5-0 vote Thursday night, Sept. 8, Wiscasset selectmen set the tax rate at $20.08 per $1,000 of assessed valuation – the same rate as last year. To do it, they took $275,000 from the fund balance. According to the discussion at the town office and carried on Zoom, and Town Manager Dennis Simmons’ email to the board Sept. 7, even with that sum removed, the fund balance should top $2 million.

The budget rose 14%, but the town can afford to keep taxes flat to give taxpayers a break in a year they have been “taking it on the chin” with costs for everything else hiking, Simmons said. “That’s pretty darn good given everything else,” Chair Sarah Whitfield said of the flat rate.

“It’s a big relief just to have no increase” in the rate, Selectman Terry Heller said. “It’s wonderful news.”

In the Sept. 7 email, Simmons told the board he did not recommend cutting the rate by taking more than the $275,000 from the fund balance. “With the increase in prices this year, an increase next year seems likely and reducing this year’s rates may only add to the pain of next year ...,” he wrote.