The current rate is 34 cents per mile. The county is looking at 37.5 cents per mile.
PARIS – The people who serve civil process summons papers in Oxford County want an increase in mileage that is 5.5 cents more than the 32-cent-a-mile state standard.

Commissioners will take up the issue at their next meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 20, in the Superior Courthouse.

At their last meeting, commissioners agreed the only fair way to address the question was to examine the cost of increasing the mileage reimbursement to 37.5 cents a mile for each county department. Currently, the county reimburses at the rate of 34 cents a mile.

Most counties pay less for mileage reimbursement currently than Oxford County. Androscoggin, Lincoln, Knox, Waldo and Hancock each pay 32 cents a mile. However, four counties – Piscataquis, Somerset, York and Cumberland – are paying at the 37.5 mile rate, according to a preliminary survey done by county Administrative Assistant Carole Mahoney.

The county’s seven civil process servers, who deliver summonses and other court work throughout the county, do far more traveling than any other county workers. If their mileage rate were raised to 37.5 cents a gallon, Mahoney estimated, it would cost the county $3,000 annually.

The money for extra mileage costs was not included in this year’s budget, which began Jan. 1. The district attorney’s staff also does a good deal of traveling between courthouses, and commissioners often must travel to meetings and other obligations.

All told, an increase to 37.5 cents a mile would cost the county an additional $3,665.