Wiscasset selectmen will recommend using monies from capital reserve to cover close to a million dollars’ worth of spending including buying an ambulance, police cruiser and used fire truck.

At a June 18 budget workshop, Chair Judy Colby said by using $1.2 million in reserve funds the town could make all the needed purchases with little or no increase in property taxes. Proposed purchases total $989,076. They include buying a used $25,000 ladder fire truck from Cape Elizabeth; a new GMC dump truck for the public works department, four generators for the treatment plant, and doing some infrastructure work and repairs to town buildings.

At the close of the stock market May 31, the town’s capital reserve funds managed by HM Payson of Portland stood at $11.64 million. The town has another $3.62 in endowments the firm also manages.

“It’s always been meant to use for a rainy day,” said Colby. If voters approve all the purchases, there would be about $180,000 left. Colby added, the balance could be applied to the tax commitment, eliminating the select board’s having to rely on the fund balance. Town Manager John O’Connell said he wouldn’t know the fund balance total until after June 30, the close of the fiscal year.

The board is considering adding another full-time officer to the police department. The job had been cut from an earlier version of the budget but will be revisited when selectmen meet Tuesday, June 25. They hope to finalize their 2020-2021 budget.

In past years, the board has capped withdrawals from capital reserve at 4.5 percent of its value. Staying with that percentage this year would limit the town to spending just over $500,000 from it.

At the outset of Thursday’s workshop, O’Connell presented a proposed 2020-2021 operational budget of $5.85 million – a 2% increase over last year’s. He said  projected revenues held up “pretty well” over the last year in spite of the shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. “It hasn’t really impacted us yet but it still could,” he commented.

On the plus side, O’Connell said new construction over the last year has increased the town’s valuation by some $3 million. Projected revenues as of June 16 totaled $3.1 million; they were expected to reach $3.38 million. They were a little over $3 million in 2019. Selectman Ben Rines Jr. was concerned about whether or not 2021 projected revenues of $3.5 million will hold up. “That will affect next year’s fund balance,” he commented.

Because Thursday’s meeting was a workshop, no votes were taken. The town election is Sept. 8.