ROXBURY - Unless a special town meeting can be held soon, fire Chief Ray Carver's desire to protect his firefighters from carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases will remain on the back burner.

A mistake in Monday's town-meeting warrant lowered Carver's requested $14,900 for fire protection down to $10,000. Due to a cap on money articles, voters couldn't amend it to raise a higher amount, so they approved the $10,000.

"It means that quite a bit of stuff that I wanted to purchase, I can't," Carver said Wednesday.

Among the items were turnout gear and a gas monitor meter, which costs $1,200. Carver said his department needs one so that Roxbury firefighters can enter a building to check for dangerous gases.

Selectmen Chairman Mark Touchette took responsibility for the gaffe.

"I'm not upset about it ... It was just an oversight. They made a mistake and they owned up to it, so I'm hoping they have a special town meeting to give me the money," Carver said.

To remedy the problem, an attempt was made by former Maine Gov. Angus King and Robert Gardiner to write a check for $5,000 and donate it to the Fire Department, Carver said.

King and Gardiner are principals in a wind-power project that would extend along a Roxbury ridge. They attended the meeting to answer questions about the project and Roxbury's zoning changes that would allow for construction of wind towers.

Carver and newly elected Selectman Christine "Tina" Howard said that voters, however, turned the donation down.

"I wasn't there for that, but one of the townspeople thought it looked like a bribe," Carver said.

"Call it what you want, but that's a good-faith effort that shows you care about the town," Howard said Wednesday of the offer.

Still, Carver added, by not accepting the offer, "I think the town did it right."

In other business, voters OK'd a municipal budget of $368,222, of which $242,322 will be raised from taxes. It is an increase of $20,579 in taxes from last year.