WELLS — Town warrants have already been mailed out to Wells residents, so those who have taken the time to peruse the 52-page booklet, or viewed it on the town website, already know that a yes vote at the June 10 Town Meeting will mean a property tax rate increase for fiscal year 2015 of an estimated 46 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Town Manager Jonathan Carter, in an interview with the Journal Tribune when the budget was first proposed in January, said selectmen wanted a conservative but realistic budget that would maintain municipal services and fund needed capital improvement expenses.

This budget does that, he said.

The municipal budget, as proposed, is $17.9 million. The town’s share of the proposed Wells-Ogunquit Community School District budget is $17.4 million and the town’s county tax bill is $1.5 million.

After accounting for revenue, the amount of the budget to be raised through taxation is only about half of the total municipal budget, at $8.8 million. The total amount that the town needs to raise through taxes is $27.8 million.

This will result in an estimated tax rate for the new year, beginning July 1, of $9.58 per $1,000 of assessed property value, about 5 percent more than the current rate of $9.12.

The lion’s share of the proposed tax increase is for the education portion of the budget. According to the town warrant, that increase is 33 cents, an increase to $5.99. The town government portion will be 10 cents more, an increase to $3.06. The county portion of the tax rate would remain the same, at 53 cents.

Although property taxes are proposed to increase, the new budget that town residents will be asked to approve is about 1 percent less than the current year’s budget, which ends June 30. It is also about $90,000 less than the amount the state allows to be raised via property taxes.

This budget contains increases in a number of areas compared with the current year’s budget, including a 3 percent increase in gross employee salaries; a nearly 9 percent gross increase in operating expenses, which includes a $191,000 increase in insurance and benefits costs, $55,000 increase in workers’ compensation and $88,000 more in debt service; and a 10 percent increase in the capital improvement plan, primarily due to increased funding for truck replacement for the highway and fire departments.

According to Carter, the proposed budget also includes funds to hire several new positions in the highway department and two part-time beach personnel.

On the Town Meeting warrant, residents will also be asked to authorize spending $600,000 to purchase land to build, at a future date, a new public safety building to house the police department and a central fire station. Also included in the proposed budget, he said, are funds to hire an architect for design work on three public safety facilities.

Voting will take place Tuesday, June 10 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Wells High School Gymnasium.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.