The Wiscasset Budget Committee is calling for the elimination of the town planner's job. The cut is one of a series of recommendations the panel has agreed to give selectmen as plans get under way for a revote on items residents rejected at the polls this month.

Those June 11 rejections largely aligned with the committee's recommendations, which had run contrary to selectmen's budget proposal. On June 20, committee members praised voters' decisions and drafted proposed budget changes to take up with selectmen July 2.

That discussion was set for 5 p.m. at the municipal building.

In addition to the proposed removal of the planner's position, the committee is recommending combining the executive assistant's and assessing agent's jobs; eliminating overtime at the transfer station and minimizing part-time work there;  setting a $3,000 retainer for the code enforcement officer (who would also get $20 an hour as needed, plus mileage); cutting $10,000 from the selectmen's failed $40,000 proposal for contingency; and separating proposed capital projects into separate ballot items.

Selectmen's bundling of the capital projects was central to the committee's previous recommendation to reject them.

Breaking the projects out lets voters only approve the ones they want to, members said June 20.

During deliberations, committee members said Wiscasset could function with fewer town office workers, including the 30-hour a week executive assistant. The job has been advertised due a resignation.

The town could have saved money by not replacing the employee, budget committee members said.

“For a town our size … I just can't believe that it can't be taken care of without that position,” panel member Ray Soule said.

Committee members did not immediately know how much money their proposed cuts would save taxpayers.

Selectmen have discussed holding the town's revote September 10. Following the July 2 meeting with the budget committee, plans call for the board to vote on its recommendations July 16, give the committee another week for recommendations on each of the ballot questions, and then sign the warrant July 23.

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