Monmouth Fire Chief Dan Roy told selectmen Wednesday that the insulation work at the fire station on Main Street should be completed by the end of next week.

“Hopefully that will save on energy costs,” Roy said. “Hopefully it will take care of the mold issues we’ve had in the past.”

In other action, selectmen agreed to let construction crews use 1,800 feet of town owned land to park equipment and material while the state replaces the bottom section of a large culvert near the town’s transfer station at the intersection of Route 135 and Berry Road. The state will pay the town $250.

The culvert replacement will include a fish passage, said Town Manager Curtis Lunt.

Lunt said the land is now covered by bushes and will be returned to the town when the project is complete.

“It will be grass when they get through with it,” Lunt said.

When it comes to the town budget, the final numbers have not yet been audited, but Lunt said preliminary figures indicate the town finished the 2013-14 fiscal year $150,000 in the black.

“We’ve spent less than we had budgeted,” Lunt said.

Some of the biggest savings came in employee benefits, ambulance service and summer public works, all of which finished the year $10,000 under budget, and the transfer station, which came in $20,000 under budget. Lunt said the town’s share of excises taxes, $643,000, was up from previous years and ahead of the $620,000 the town had budgeted.

“It’s good news,” Lunt said. “It’s not great news. It could be even better.”

Craig Crosby — 621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @CraigCrosby4

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