Woolwich Voters to Consider $2.8 Million Budget at April 29 Town Meeting

At last year's assessed valuation, Woolwich's proposed $25,826 municipal budget increase translates to about 3 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value — roughly $10 more annually on a property assessed at $300,000. The larger tax pressure, Selectman Jason Shaw made clear, will come from outside Town Hall.

Voters will consider the full $2,838,959 spending plan at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 29 at the Woolwich Central School gymnasium on Nequasset Road. The selectboard controls only about 30 percent of what ultimately appears on Woolwich property-tax bills; RSU 1 and Sagadahoc County together drive the remaining 70 percent, and neither budget has been finalized.

"We spent weeks working with the town administrator looking at every line of the budget cutting where we could," Shaw said April 1, when he chaired the board's warrant-finalization meeting in the absence of Chairman David King Sr.

The warrant's single largest article asks voters to approve $1,099,617 for roads and bridges, covering plowing, winter maintenance, and general highway work. That figure represents nearly 39 percent of the entire proposed municipal budget. A vote against the article would leave the highway program without funding unless voters move to set a different number from the floor. The 24/7 ambulance service article requests $391,244 and the fire department line stands at $197,382. Those three service areas alone account for nearly 60 percent of all proposed spending, with curbside trash and recycling adding another $266,142.

To hold the increase below $26,000, Shaw and Town Administrator Kim Dalton made a series of targeted trims through February and into spring. The assessing agent contract was cut $15,000, and the board eliminated a $15,000 catastrophic repair reserve entirely. The town office shed $2,500 from its unemployment compensation line and $2,259 from workers' compensation after completing a state workplace-safety program. The board also recommended halving the town's annual contribution to the Bath Area Food Bank, from $10,000 to $5,000, a reduction likely to draw floor debate given the organization's role in the region.

Shaw's warning about the broader tax picture carries weight from recent history. In 2025-26, Woolwich's share of the RSU 1 school budget rose $441,879, a 9 percent jump, while the Sagadahoc County appropriation climbed $126,946, or 8.4 percent. Both figures far outpaced any savings the selectboard could achieve on its own lines. The 2026-27 school and county tallies remain unsettled, but both are expected to rise and will shape the mill rate independent of whatever voters decide on Nequasset Road on April 29.