MOUNT VERNON -- The transfer station operating budget will be depleted by April, Treasurer Marti Gross told selectmen Monday night.

Selectmen had asked Gross to prepare budget projections in advance of Monday's meeting so that they could address cost overruns before funds, budgeted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, are exhausted.

Gross said current calculations indicate a shortfall of nearly $19,000.

Selectman Russell Libby said disposal of a contaminated wood pile, normally chipped and sold, accounted for $13,000 of the unexpected operational costs.

Selectmen had also asked staff of the transfer station to attend to help identify possible cost-saving measures.

Transfer station attendant Wayne Colebrooke said that regular raiding of the metal pile has reduced the town's income from the sale of the scrap metal. He added that while, a few residents pick through the pile for items to reuse, some regular customers are hauling off what he considered scrap that would be sold for their own benefit -- including one resident who fills a pickup truck nearly every weekend.

The town recently installed a Dumpster to collect scrap metal but that hasn't slowed the steady stream back out of the transfer station, Colebrooke said, adding that pickers now stand by the Dumpster and intercept metal as it arrives.

Gross told selectmen that, since July, the town has realized $3,200 in revenue from the sale of scrap metal -- an amount used to offset the cost of operations.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Debra Baeder said that in the current fiscal environment, the town could not afford to loose revenue items. She went on to identify what she considered possible areas for review in addressing the budget shortfall -- the fee schedule for disposal of bulky and construction waste, the hours of operations at the facility and revenue- generating potential -- but suggested tabling further discussion until the December 8 meeting in the hope that Transfer Station Manger Walter Perbeck would be available.

In other business, selectmen:

* Met with Fire Chief Dana Dunn and Rescue Director Pat Rawson to discuss how E-911 calls are being handled.

Selectman Susan Herman said she had been contacted by a resident after a car accident on Halloween to which fire and rescue had not been dispatched.

After talking with Mike Smith at the Somerset Country Communications Center, Herman said, it appeared that only rural patrol was dispatched because the accident was reported as involving property damage only -- with no personal injury.

Dunn said that the fire department's standard operating procedures dictate that fire and rescue are to be dispatched to all car accidents to help with safety issues in the roadway, handle "spillage" and assess accidents victims -- noting that the need for medical care is not always immediately apparent.

Dunn said that the SOP is on file with the communications center and has been correctly followed to date but noted that similar problems had arisen when calls were answered at Central Maine Regional Communications Center.

Herman said she would ask Smith to contact Dunn to review the town's preferred procedures.

* Discussed the upcoming vote on the school consolidation plan.

Herman said the vote would most likely occur at the end of January with public hearings scheduled in advance of the vote.

She added that it was "very important people understand the issues, pros and cons, and the impact on Mount Vernon" prior to voting.

* Met with resident John Glowa and Road Commissioner Jeff Kent to discuss drainage issues on North Taylor Road.

Kent said he is aware that ditching is required on the road and had been optimistic it could be done in 2008 but that more populated sections of the road had required his time and limited funds.

He agreed to prepare for the project by contacting adjacent property owners for permission to redirect water across their fields and would clearing the road side in the spring if the brush account allowed.

* Discussed a recent meeting with the Belgrade Board of Selectmen regarding water quality issues on Long Pond.

Baeder said she and Herman attended to hear a presentation by Peter Kallin, director of the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance.

The possibility of a cooperative effort between towns bordering the Pond was discussed, Baeder said, but added that a Belgrade resident told the board that Mount Vernon should not be included in any such efforts until the town becomes a member of the Belgrade Stream Dam Committee.

The committee maintains the dam and controls water levels in Long Pond.

According to Baeder, Mount Vernon's membership would cost approximately $1,500 a year in maintenance costs.