Wiscasset voters take up a proposed $6,116,034 municipal budget Tuesday, June 8. The sum is $249,575 higher than the 2020-21 budget, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said in a May 28 email response to questions.

Simmons said leading factors in the increase include the 2.5% wage hike for all employees except the police department, whose union contract is not yet settled. “We are also requesting the addition of one full-time police officer, though we are applying for a grant to pay for 75% of the wages and fringe benefits.”

The town saw an increase in water rates and hydrant rentals, Simmons continued; and selectmen are requesting an increase in their contingency from $30,000 to $50,000.

Which votes, if any, might be close? “There were no comments or questions regarding the budget at the public hearing so it is hard to judge,” Simmons said.

Also June 8, voters take up the proposed $9.1 million school budget. And Terry Heller, Dusty Jones and William Maloney are running for two, two-year openings on the board of selectmen. Incumbent school committee members Desiree Bailey and Indriani Demers are uncontested on the ballot for new, three-year terms.

No one is on the ballot for three, three-year budget committee seats, or for three two-year terms on it or two one-year terms. And incumbent Phillip DiVece is the lone candidate for three years on the Wiscasset Water District.

Voters will consider authorizing selectmen to study the school department’s future, “including all options for expansion, consolidation, or continuing the status quo,” the warrant states. Residents will also consider authorizing and delegating the selectboard to negotiate a long-term lease of about 20 Wiscasset Municipal Airport acres with MSD Wiscasset LLC for a solar energy project.

Polls will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Wiscasset Community Center. Watch for these and other towns’ results at wiscassetnewspaper.com as they come in.