Wiscasset selectmen and the Budget Committee finalized the municipal budget for fiscal year 2018-19 on March 27.

Also Monday, Selectman Jeff Slack’s proposal for a warrant article asking voters if they wanted to eliminate the police department and move to the Sheriff’s Department was withdrawn from the warrant.

The group finalized departments’ capital improvement budgets. It was decided at the last budget workshop to withdraw a million dollars from the town’s finance accounts to cover some essential capital improvements. On March 20, a trailer removed from the transfer station budget was put back in, and the pool treatment system for the community center was approved for $10,000;  and on March 26,  the Parks and Recreation Department also was granted up to $42,000 for a new plow pickup truck.

Public works is slated to get a new 10-wheel dump truck, for an expected cost of $175,000, and an additional $20,000 for paving to deal with drainage issues and repaving at the community center. Public works will also keep its 2008 pickup for the next year at least, but funds for its maintenance and the maintenance of one of the other GMC top kick dump trucks were included in the operating budget. The rest of the paving budget, $375,000, will focus on Old Stage Road and Gibbs Road, and work on downtown catch basins and side streets. The police budget requests for body and dash cams, as well as replacement firearms, were approved, for a total of $9,000. Other items include $40,463 for debt on the piers, $96,690 for the new ambulance, $30,000 for the back hoe lease for public works, and some repairs to the town hall building, for about $17,000. The remainder of the million dollar withdrawal will go to tax relief.

All of the proposed operating budget items were approved, most unanimously, but the Boards and Committees budget, which had proposed funds for secretarial services for boards that no longer had the planner’s services, passed 4-1, with Judy Colby voting against. The contingency fund passed 4-1, with Jeff Slack voting against.

EMS passed 3-2, with Colby and Bob Blagden voting against. The total budget for EMS was $553,227, but the revenue for the department was budgeted at $375,000 and is expected to be greater, leaving a taxpayer obligation of $178,227. The town is exploring the option of hiring another agency. The selectmen voting in favor of the budget acknowledged that more information and probably a formal RFP were necessary. Budget committee member Kim Andersson insisted an RFP was necessary if the town was going to dismantle its EMS department.

Blagden voted against donations for Healthy Kids and New Hope for Women as part of the community organization donations. The two donations passed, 4-1, as did the rest of the requests for community services, which also included the library and two food pantries.

The Parks and Recreation Department total was $815,669, but after expected revenues of $450,000, the final taxpayer responsibility is $365,669. The discussion was reopened after Director Lisa Thompson left the meeting. Andersson protested at the reopening of the budget after the director had thought the budget was set. “This is the kind of thing that makes people say that Wiscasset is a tough town,” she said. “It seems unfair to wait until the director of the department leaves before making possible changes to their budgets. It’s why good employees leave.” She also said that parks and rec was one of the few things that families could do together in town, and said that she did not feel the budget was excessive for the town’s children, who use the after school programs, summer programs, and more at the center. The budget passed 4-1, with Blagden voting against.

The police department budget passed 4-1, at $423,858, with Slack, who proposed the town use the services of the Sheriff’s Department, voting against. The transfer station budget of $590, 697 passed 4-1 with Blagden voting against.