OXFORD – Selectmen will meet with the Solid Waste Committee at 6 p.m. May 6 to decide if changes need to be made to the transfer station rules in the wake of citizen complaints.

Some residents are complaining about new charges for dumping brush and wood. The brush charge is $18 a ton, and disposal of waste wood is being charged at $60 a ton.

In addition, selectmen are likely to revisit a decision not to accept demolition waste at the station. The Solid Waste Committee considered, then recommended against, joining up with the Norway-Paris landfill operation, which does have the ability to accept demolition waste.

At things stand now, Oxford residents must take demolition waste to the Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp. in Auburn, at a cost of $85 per ton. The change has sparked concerns that the fees will lead to more off-road dumping.

Selectmen also agreed at Thursday’s meeting to take a total of $20,000 from the Tax Increment Financing District, leaving around $6,000 in that account. The funds will be split equally, with $10,000 serving as a contribution to the Growth Council of Oxford Hills, a subsidiary of Western Maine Development, and the other $10,000 going to the Technology Park Development Corp., another WMD subsidiary that is developing a technology park overlooking Norway Lake.

Town Manager Mike Huston said the TIF from development of the Wal-Mart store on Route 26 generates around $40,000 in dedicated tax revenue. Around $10,000 is set aside annually for economic development, while the balance goes to the Oxford Water District to pay off the bond that brought water service to the Wal-Mart development.

Voters at the annual town meeting in March approved Oxford’s participation in a revenue sharing agreement for the technology park, but did not approve any funding contributions, as other towns involved in the project have made.

At an earlier meeting, Growth Council Chief Executive Officer Brett Doney outlined how funding contributions from each of the five towns involved in the project – Norway, Paris, Waterford, Otisfield are the others – will help his agency in applying for federal funding for infrastructure development of the park.

After a presentation by members of the Recreation Committee on their proposed use of the old fire station, selectmen agreed to place it on the warrant for a May 15 special town meeting.

The meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at town hall, will ask voters to appropriate a total of $225,000 from the town’s surplus account to buy two highway trucks.

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com

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