Now that Wiscasset is returning to a town meeting to decide its budget, selectmen have more flexibility in when they complete their budget offer, town officials said.

Town Clerk Christine Wolfe doesn't need to post the town meeting warrant until seven days before the vote; had selectmen sent the budget to the polls again this year, they would have had to get it to her 45 days before the vote.

“So (the town meeting) gives them a lot longer to prepare the budget,” Wolfe said.

Selectmen may or may not need that extra time, Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish said. But it could give them a better picture of the current budget and revenues, and any changes the legislature makes that could impact next year's budget, he said.

It will also provide a chance to work out any differing views that arise on budget items, among board members or between the board and the town's budget committee, Selectmen's Chairman Ed Polewarczyk said.

“We could say, 'Let's think on it a couple days and come back,' rather than just take a vote and be done with it,” he said.

He and Gerrish have started drafting a schedule for the board to work on the budget and meet with the budget committee, Polewarczyk said. That schedule will likely be ready for the board to consider on March 18, he said.

No date has been set for the town meeting. Gerrish said it will probably be held no later than June 14.

Selectmen agreed March 4 to go with the town meeting this year. In 2013, residents twice rejected parts of the proposed budget in secret ballot votes. Longtime assessors' agent Sue Varney was laid off until funding was restored for her job in a special town meeting last October.

Elections will continue to take place at the polls. Nomination papers become available March 17 for three two-year terms on the board of selectmen; one three-year term on the school committee; on the budget committee, three, three-year terms and one, one-year term; and two, two-year terms for water district trustees, Wolfe said.

The local elections coincide with primaries on June 10.