OXFORD – A new full-time position and increasing health-care costs account for the largest increases in the proposed 2005 budget, Town Manager Michael Chammings told the Oxford Board of Selectmen on Wednesday.
Chammings addressed the board during what was intended to be a workshop. But it was changed to a special selectmen’s meeting earlier in the day to allow for a wider range of discussion.
“There’s not much to cut out of the budget,” Chammings said, later adding that he has not yet finished all his budget estimates for the coming fiscal year.
According to Chammings, the administrative staff’s size at the Town Office hasn’t been expanded for 15 years, with the exception of a part-time position. He said he’d like to make that position full-time.
“We’re looking at a large increase in work since 1990, and no staff to keep up with it,” he said, explaining that more motor vehicle registrations, voter registrations and tax liens to be filed have increased the office workload by more than 100 percent over time.
In the last year alone, Chammings said, the Town Office has gone from processing about 200,000 motor vehicle registrations to nearly 300,000.
“So what would be the total?” Selectman Lois Pike asked of the new position.
Chammings did not have an exact figure, but the salary was estimated at $38,000 to $40,000, including benefits.
One other cost for the town would be a new software system needed to process motor vehicle registrations. Chammings said he expected to spend $7,000 to $10,000 on the system, which will be required due to changes in the way the state handles the registrations. The current system isn’t compatible with the vehicle registration system the state will bring online this year.
“The state has, in a backdoor way, done another unfunded mandate,” he said.
Selectman Dennis Sanborn complained that the state keeps changing its requirements and forcing the town to change as well. “You would almost think the state would wake up,” he said.
“Nothing stays the same, Dennis,” replied Selectman Floyd Thayer.
Chammings said health-care costs are expected to increase by 10 to 15 percent this year.
He does hope the town will save in the area of legal fees, and legal ads and notices, however.
The selectmen also discussed printing the annual town report in a newspaper format, which Sanborn has suggested could save several thousand dollars.
In other business, the board voted 4-0 to send a revised personnel policy to the Maine Municipal Association for review.
The board then entered into an executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss Chammings’ six-month probation period.
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