How great a tax hike will Wiscasset property owners see this year? A discussion selectmen take up tonight, Tuesday, Aug. 19, could have a major impact: The board will be considering how much money to take from the town’s fund balance, to offset the hike driven by the first year’s school budget outside Regional School Unit 12.

The meeting at the town office starts at 7 p.m. The board is also set to have a 6 p.m. executive, or closed-door session on litigation involving Ferry Road Development.

If selectmen take the same amount as last year from the fund balance, $125,000, this year’s property tax hike would come to 9.38 percent, according to materials accompanying the board’s agenda. Taking $200,000 instead would lower the hike to 8.3 percent; $300,000, 6.98 percent; or $400,000, 5.56 percent.

It may not be an easy call for selectmen. In recent years, they have been taking less from the fund balance, in an effort to build it high enough to cover about two months’ of town spending, or about $1.8 million.

The fund balance sits at nearly $1 million.

Tonight’s meeting will be the first for Wiscasset’s new town manager Marian Anderson. The Boothbay woman took her oath of office at the town office on August 18. Monday was the former Richmond town manager’s first day on the job.