JAY – Selectmen voted unanimously to abate nearly $3,780 in property taxes and sewer fees in two cases Monday night.

Wausau Paper requested a sewer abatement after company representatives discovered that the paper mill had been charged for the wrong number of employees for the past three years.

The town had been charging Wausau for 300 employees since at least the 1990s and that number has dropped to 253.

The company requested an abatement for the past two years, Sewer Department Superintendent Mark Holt said.

Town Clerk Ronda Palmer said the town has been charging them on that number of employees since she has been there and that is 20 years.

Palmer said she’ll check with the mills to see if they would submit updates on the number of employees they have each year.

The company wants the abatement to be credited to the next sewer billing cycle, Holt said.

Selectmen approved the abatement of $787.50 for 2004-05 and $832.50 for 2005-06.

In another abatement matter, there was an error on the part of the town, Town Manager Ruth Marden said, in charging a resident for taxes on property and he was not aware of it.

The board voted to abate $2,159.66 to Jeff Boivin for the years 2001, 2002 and 2003.

In another matter, selectmen voted to authorize Marden to sign an ambulance service contract with NorthStar Emergency Medical Services in Farmington for $54,273 for 2007-08. That amount is about $1,739 less than the existing contract subsidy.

The new formula takes into account residential valuation, population, housing units and a distance factor, selectman Chairman Bill Harlow said.