With the final warrant to present to voters signed by selectmen on Friday, April 24, Wiscasset has ended its budget setting process for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The finalized municipal budget of $5,789,733 is a 1.34 percent decrease from the previous year’s municipal budget of $5,868,664.
The Wiscasset School Department is still in their budget setting process and their figures have not yet been incorporated into the 2015-2016 budget.
Selectmen and budget committee members developed a “work list” of municipal services to review to find greater efficiencies during the budget process, Town Manager Marian Anderson said. Services identified for further review include the Wiscasset Police Department, Wiscasset Ambulance Service, the Parks and Recreation Department, the transfer station, and the fees associated with permits and licensing.
Two non-binding warrant articles will ask Wiscasset voters, “shall the town vote to discontinue,” the Wiscasset Police Department in favor of using the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wiscasset Ambulance Service in favor of a private company.
The warrant articles will gauge public support for the municipal services as officials move ahead with their review of the “work list.” While the warrant article is non-binding, Anderson has placed ambulance services out to bid as part of a fact-finding mission to figure out what private ambulance services would cost Wiscasset.
The bids are due by May 5, Anderson said.
Outsourcing services was an identified goal for selectmen in 2013, according to town documents. The single largest decrease in Wiscasset’s 2015-2016 budget can be found in the assessor’s office, which was reduced by $71,858 or 91.7 percent.
In the wake of Sue Varney’s retirement, Wiscasset placed assessing services out to bid. Contractual services increased by $22,660 as a result – outsourcing shaved approximately $50,000 from the 2015-2016 budget.
The Parks and Recreation Department is the single largest line item in the 2015-2016 budget at $742,673, a decrease of $5,899 from the previous year’s budget of $748,572.
According to budget committee members, the department went $14,000 over one of its line items in the 2014-2015 budget. Finding efficiencies in the department, “is on the front burner,” Anderson said during the budget committee meeting Thursday, April 23.
The Parks and Recreation Department is projected to generate approximately $452,000 in revenue for the town.
Wiscasset’s public works or Municipal Highway Department was the second largest line item at $679,997, a $39,256 increase from the previous year’s budget of $640,741.
The county tax rate is the third largest line item in the budget at $529,762, a $19,640 increase from the previous year’s tax of $510,122. The county has not released the official tax commitment of Lincoln County municipalities, however, Anderson estimated the county tax based on the 3.9 percent increase in the county budget.
The transfer station’s budget is $522,730, a $5,000 increase from the previous year’s budget of $517,730. Anderson said she is looking at personnel at the transfer station as part of her work list, and will be reviewing built in over-time at the department and will discuss potentially reducing transfer station hours.
The transfer station is projected to generate approximately $257,000 in revenue for the town.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant’s budget is $448,084, a $25,635 increase from the previous year. According to Wiscasset’s warrant, no money will be raised from taxpayers for the plant, which will be funded through departmental revenue and the town’s surplus account.
The Wiscasset Police Department’s budget is $390,210, which includes the position of the school resource officer. The school resource officer and the police department budget will be presented to voters as two separate warrant articles.
The 2015-2016 police department budget is a $13,836 increase from the previous year’s budget of $376,374. While voters will be asked to weigh in on discontinuing the police department in favor of using the sheriff’s office, no municipal official from Wiscasset has contacted the sheriff’s office to discuss the proposal, Sheriff Todd Brackett said.
The Wiscasset Airport decreased by $33,482 in the 2015-2016 budget from $316,657 in 2014-2015 to $283,175. The airport is projected to generate approximately $260,000 in revenue for the town in 2015-2016.
The Wiscasset Ambulance Service decreased by approximately $26,656 in the 2015-2016 budget from $312,944 in 2014-2015 to $286,288. The ambulance is projected to generate $232,000 in 2015-2016.
Budget committee members voted 7 to 0 to recommend the ambulance service’s budget on the warrant at the Thursday, April 23 budget meeting. Selectmen voted unanimously to support the budget as well. According to budget committee members, if the ambulance services’ contracts with neighboring communities improved, there would be no discussions of outsourcing the service.
According to Roland Abbott, Director of Wiscasset Ambulance Service, the ambulance service began collecting fees from neighboring communities approximately four years ago. “We hope to sit down [with the neighboring communities] and crack some hard numbers,” Abbott said. “That’s what we’re working on right now.”
The 2015-2016 budget includes $402,400 in capital improvement projects. Voters will decide June 6 whether to appropriate $39,000 from the capital reserve account to purchase a new police cruiser for the police department.
Selectmen revisited their previous decision to place no recommendation on the warrant and voted 3 in favor to 2 opposed on April 24 to purchase the cruiser. The official vote from the budget committee is 3 in favor to 4 opposed to purchase the cruiser.
However, a budget committee member said during the meeting he voted the wrong way on the cruiser – he voted opposed but wanted to vote in favor. The budget committee member declined to revisit the vote.
Voters will also decide whether to appropriate $25,000 to repair a 2003 ambulance at the Wiscasset Ambulance Service. The question will be asked in lieu of using the account to purchase a new ambulance, which was discussed at the outset of the budget setting process. Both the selectmen and budget committee voted unanimously in favor of the appropriation.
According to the warrant, $4,323,711 of Wiscasset’s $5,789,733 municipal budget will be raised from taxpayers, with $2,874,500 in departmental revenue used to offset the tax commitment.
The school department is still in their budget setting process. The amount to be added to Wiscasset’s warrant will be determined at the budget meeting May 27.
Selectmen are aware of the tax burden on the property owner and are doing their due diligence in reviewing municipal services and having “those difficult conversations” to find savings for the town, Anderson said. The “work list” created through the budget process is looking toward the future of Wiscasset, Anderson said, and the future of the services provided through the town.