Wiscasset voters will be facing new budget figures that look a lot like the ones they rejected last month.

Selectmen on July 16 made few changes to proposed items that failed at the polls June 11. The budget committee will meet Thursday, July 18, to make its own recommendations that will also appear on the ballot. That meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the municipal building.

Selectmen kept in the budget the town planner's job that the budget committee had proposed cutting. The board also stood by its assessing budget that the budget committee and voters opposed.

It might look like assessing agent Sue Varney is getting a 17 percent raise, but with all the concessions she agreed to in her contract, the increase really amounts to 2 or 3 percent, Selectmen's Chairman Ed Polewarczyk said.

Selectmen also cited the $68,000 severance package Varney would have coming if she's laid off.

Residents speaking Tuesday night argued that cutting planning and other   services would take the town in the wrong direction.

If it happens, the town should put up a sign saying it is closed for business, Newkirk Inn owner Chris Dilts said.

The board cut $30,000 no longer needed for trash bags in the pay-as-you-throw plan voters declined in June. Selectmen also shaved $10,000 from proposed contingency funds and another $15,000 in capital spending on the fire department.

In one key switch from the June ballot, selectmen broke capital projects into separate items. Board members said the bundling had allowed for flexibility if one item cost more than expected and another cost less; but they said separating them will make it likelier at least some will get approved.

Selectmen added $15,000 in wastewater pump repairs, bringing those from $13,500 to $28,500. The board cut the failed code enforcement budget by $3,116; less is needed for benefits because a code enforcement officer won't be hired before November, Town Manager Laurie Smith said.

Selectmen planned to sign the warrant for the next ballot vote at a special board meeting 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, at the municipal building.

'Opportunity' involving Rynel

Selectmen emerged from a closed-door session and scheduled a 6 p.m., July 30 board meeting on what Smith described as a “potential development opportunity” involving local company Rynel.

She did not give out further details. Selectmen plan to have the July 30 discussion in open session.

Located on Twin Rivers Drive, Rynel makes a foam product that goes into wound dressing made by parent company Molnlycke Health Care, Smith said.

Reached July 17, Jim Detert, Molnlycke Health Care's director of business development-the Americas, said the company is still developing plans internally and is looking forward to meeting with the selectmen.

Road standards mulled

New road standards the ordinance review committee has drafted could be costly to people wanting to build homes on private roads, selectmen said.

The standards could add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of building, board members said.

“I see it destroying their plans,” Selectman Pam Dunning said about people wanting to develop a lot that has been in the family a long time, or who have bought a lot then waited a few years to build.

Private roads in poor condition risk damage to the town's emergency vehicles and may even keep those vehicles from being able to reach a home, the ordinance review committee's chairman Karl Olson said.

The draft selectmen reviewed Tuesday night would create tiers of increasing standards, according to the number of homes on a driveway or private road. The first tier would kick in when a third house is proposed on a driveway.

Selectmen will revisit the draft at a later date.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or susanjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.