The Budget Committee will have a list of questions when it meets with the Wiscasset Select Board at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30 to discuss $500,000 in cuts sought for the 2018-19 budget.

Seven committee members gathered in the firehouse Monday night. It was the committee’s first meeting since the release of a list of $431,107 in possible cuts compiled by Town Manager Marian Anderson.

EMS Director Toby Martin and Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Thompson attended.

Fred Quivey said before the committee could move forward it needed to know what the select board was attempting to accomplish. If the goal was to keep 2018 property taxes at their current level, they’d need to consider budget increases the town had no control over, including worker’s compensation, insurances, contracted pay raises and increases in utility costs.

Martin said he and other department heads had the same question. The only way the ambulance service could come up with $66,000 in cuts was to reduce staffing, he said. 

“There are opportunities that would allow us to generate more revenue for the department but in order to do so we need the staffing,” added Martin. People ask if the department can ever become self-sustaining; it won’t be unless the community spends additional funds the department needs to grow, he continued.

Committee members Kim Andersson and Shaye Paradis want the select board to explain what departmental budget lines they wanted to trim. They were concerned about what the impact would be to the community from the loss of services.

“What if people are comfortable with the services the town now offers and don’t want any of these cuts,” asked Andersson.

Quivey said he wanted to know what happened if the town no longer funded the library. He also brought up the reduction of the planning budget and the loss of the town planner.

Judy Flanagan said by town statute the committee was tasked with making recommendations on monetary articles. “The committee has become more pro-active in recent years,” she said, adding, the committee needed to ask these questions.

The committee continues to discuss ways to better reach out to voters and better explain how warrant articles impact property taxes. It was noted many voters are overwhelmed by the length of the warrant they’re asked to consider at the annual election in June.

After Thursday’s meeting in the hearing room, the committee hopes to work out a timeline with the select board to start work on the 2018-19 budget.