PARIS – The Oxford County Sheriff’s Department has come out against a proposal to shift the majority of costs for patrol services to towns without police departments.

In a letter dated Jan. 5, Sheriff Skip Herrick informed many communities that he feels it is “not justified to pass additional cost on to towns that receive services from the sheriff’s office.” He encouraged local officials to be aware of possible legislation that would restructure how services are paid for.

In addition, Chief Deputy Jim Davis on Tuesday will present the Oxford County Commission a spreadsheet outlining department services used by the various towns. The proposal to shift the burden of patrol costs alone, he said, is unfair. “If people want to go to a pay-as-you-go type service, then you have to do it with everything, not just one service.”

Dispatch and jail services should be included, he said.

Davis and Herrick both are reacting to a proposal that has been endorsed by Bethel, although Town Manager Scott Cole said the idea did not originate there. It “has been floating around for a couple of years,” he said.

On Dec. 6, the Bethel Board of Selectmen endorsed a resolution to shift 90 percent of the patrol cost burden onto the 28 towns in the county that do not have their own police departments. The remaining 10 percent of the costs would be paid by Bethel, Dixfield, Fryeburg, Mexico, Norway, Oxford, Paris and Rumford.

Cole said he and Davis view the numbers slightly differently, but the county patrol costs roughly $1 million a year.

Today, the eight towns with police departments pay 46 percent of that cost while the other 28 towns pay 54 percent. But it is the towns without police departments that rely on the county patrol services, he said.

Bethel has discussed creating legislation that would shift the patrol cost burden, but has been unable to find legislators willing to sponsor the measure. The effort is currently dead but not abandoned, Cole said. “We now realize it’s a one- to two-year project.”

Even though Bethel has put the issue on hold, outright challenges to the way county patrol costs are shared are surfacing elsewhere.

According to an article in the December edition of Maine Municipal Association’s newsletter, “Maine Townsman,” the association’s Legislative Policy Committee has voted to develop a bill of its own.

The proposal would require counties to calculate the cost of rural sheriff patrol services separately from the total county assessment. “The cost of the rural patrol service would be assessed on the basis of use rather than on the basis of municipal valuation, as nearly all other county services are assessed,” the article states.

Herrick’s letter incorrectly assumed that the municipal association’s efforts were tied to Bethel’s, Cole said.

Herrick was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Davis said the letter he has sent went to towns along with reports detailing what department services were received last year.