Wiscasset selectmen and a budget committee member on Monday voiced support to keep funding a contingency account, following one selectman’s suggestion to zero-fund it. The current proposal, reviewed Monday night as budget talks continued, calls for $35,000.

No vote was taken on it or other budget items. Talks were set to resume at 5 p.m., April 12 at the municipal building.

Selectman Jeff Slack criticized the board’s January move to buy a police cruiser out of the account. Voters previously rejected buying one, he noted.

“I think buying a police cruiser was the most foolish thing that we’ve ever done,” Slack said. “And we wouldn’t have done it if the money wasn’t there.”

In that case, the proposed buy would have gone to town meeting for a vote, Selectmen’s Charman Ben Rines Jr. responded.

“Correct. And that’s what we should have done,” Slack said. “And then they would have voted it down.”

Rines said he wished Slack had raised the issue when the board was making the cruiser decision. It wouldn’t have made any difference because the rest of he board favored it, Slack said.

Board members and Vince Thibeault of the budget committee said lowering the account’s funding might be something to consider, but not cutting funding altogether.

Over the course of a year, a lot can happen in town government that contingency money might be handy for, Selectman David Cherry said. “To eliminate it completely I think is just asking for trouble.”

The town sometimes has had additional legal costs or has had to buy out an employee’s pay,  Selectman Judy Flanagan said about possible needs that can arise.

Alna just voted to start a contingency fund, Flanagan added.

Wiscasset selectmen voted 4-1, with Slack dissenting, on Jan. 26 to buy the cruiser after then-Police Chief Troy Cline informed them that the repairs the department’s blue, 2008 cruiser needed would cost more than the car was worth.