By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer 

CASCO — When it came to the budget planning process last spring, officials with the Town of Casco decided not to count on 100 percent of the predicted income from vehicle sales or state revenue sharing.

After all, the municipal budget was being put together during the state’s shutdown at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Down-playing that revenue has put Casco in a good spot financially because those numbers might come out higher than anticipated.

Last Tuesday, Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish updated the Casco Board of Selectmen on the financials for November.

“On the revenue side we continue to be in good shape. We budgeted the same amount for excise tax as we got last year, $760,000; and through November, we are $50,000 ahead of where we were last year at the same time,” Gerrish said.“We budgeted $125,000 for state revenue sharing and we have received $137,700 through November. I reviewed the State of Maine’s projection for what Casco will receive for this year, which was $280,000 and I think we will be close to that number, which would give us an additional $155,000 we had not planned on.” 

He said that the expenditures side of the budget is faring well, too.

“The one area we will need to monitor is road work. We budgeted $100,000 in this account and we have spent $28,000 through November,” he said.

There are still seven more months left before the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2021.

“We should be okay in this [Roads] account, but winter and spring may have an impact on it,” Gerrish said. 

In fact, the ice and snowstorm that happened earlier this month put a toll on the town’s budget.

“This most recent storm had extra expenses,” Gerrish said. 

Trees had fallen across some roads. The town hired Q-Team Tree Service, out of Naples, to remove trees that were blocking roadways, he said.