NORWAY – Selectmen approved raising the pay of the town assessor and superintendent of the Wastewater Department on Thursday. They also agreed that other town employees’ pay rates should be reviewed.

The raises will bring their pay up to a level that is 12 percent lower than the state averages, according to Maine Municipal Association figures.

Town Manager David Holt said the wages were about 20 percent lower than the state average.

This means Shawn Brown of the Wastewater Department will be receiving an annual salary of about $37,000 and Assessor Jodi Keniston will now receive about $17 per hour.

Brown’s salary is taken from user fees and Holt said there was enough in that pool to increase his wage from March to June. The increase will be then part of his salary for the next fiscal year.

Keniston’s salary will also be increased in March.

In studying wages, Holt said he also sent a survey to 20 Maine towns the size of Norway, asking the pay of employees in comparable positions. He received responses from 10 of those towns.

“We’re not as up to date as I thought,” Holt said. “We might have one out of 27 employees that is paid the state average.”

He said Norway employees’ pay was even below that of the towns surveyed.

In other business, selectmen agreed to close the town office Monday so new rugs can be installed in the main business office. All the rugs in the office and some portions of the walls were damaged by a flood from a pipe that burst on Jan. 20.

Holt said it would be impossible for clerks to serve the public while the rug replacement was undertaken.

Selectmen also agreed to spend $4,000 to purchase an extended warranty on the new police cruiser.

Police Chief Tim Richards said it was difficult to determine the expenses the cruiser might incur after the warranty expired, but added with the high cost of repairs it would make sense to get the warranty.

He said the 2002 cruiser had a fuel pump replaced at 46,000 miles and the cost of that repair was $570.

Richards also informed selectmen that police recently received two restitution checks totaling about $1,200. He said one was for about $950 from someone who had kicked out the rear window and damaged a door frame of a police cruiser. The other was from a person who kicked out a cruiser window.

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