LEWISTON – A 498-pound shell recovered from the wreck of the USS Maine will get an honored spot in Veterans’ Park, if the money can be found to memorialize the relic.

The city may have a tough time finding the needed $10,000 in a budget with a proposed 10.9 percent tax increase attached.

“We’re going to do the best we can to assist you,” Councilor Normand Rousseau promised at Tuesday’s meeting.

The plan to imbed the shell in a granite monument came from the L&A Veterans Council. Chairman Bert Dutil came up with the notion when he noticed that it had disappeared from its former resting place, in the lobby of Lewiston City Hall.

For decades, the shell sat beneath a small plaque that identified it and its origins.

The shell had been on the battleship when it was sunk in Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898. The sinking and the resulting battle cry, “Remember the Maine,” helped rally support for the Spanish-American War.

Years later, the wreck was raised and relics were removed. The mast was erected in Arlington National Cemetery. Pieces from the bow adorn a monument in Bangor.

The U.S. Navy presented the shell to the city of Lewiston on June 24, 1912.

When Dutil found it earlier this year, it had been placed in storage by the city.

The shell, from the USS Maine’s 10-inch gun, is a tangible piece of American history that ought to be displayed for future generations, Dutil said.

He also understands the city’s financial pressure.

“I feel terrible asking,” he said. “But maybe the City Council can find the money.”

One possibility might be the city’s year-end surplus, suggested City Administrator James Bennett. By mid-June, the city ought to know how much of that money will be available.

It may be very little. The current draft proposal of the budget calls for $500,000 to be tapped from the surplus.

Councilors encouraged Dutil and the group to begin fundraising right away, perhaps tapping private sources first.

That would be tough. The veterans council is already fundraising, working on the likely $30,000 bill that will come from September’s visit by a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The veterans council hopes to unveil the USS Maine memorial during the visit by the Vietnam wall.