LEEDS – Residents want better oversight of unregulated junkyards, but this weekend they didn’t support hiring a second code enforcement officer to do the job.

Voters at Saturday’s town meeting instead boosted the salary of existing Code Enforcement Officer Larry Grant.

“The idea is that he’ll be able to devote some extra time to patrolling the junkyards, and hopefully handling that issue,” said Town Clerk Jane Wheeler.

Wheeler said the matter took up most of the debate at the town meeting. Roughly 50 voters attended the meeting, settling the town’s warrant with 40 articles in under three hours.

The town paid Grant $11,500 to monitor health, zoning and code enforcement issues over the past year. He devotes about 14 hours weekly to the job.

Selectmen had proposed hiring an additional code enforcement officer to investigate and regulate unlicensed automobile graveyards, junkyards and auto recycling businesses. The warrant called for spending $20,000 to do that.

Voters at the meeting decided to increase Grant’s salary to $16,500 instead of hiring another officer. He’s expected to increase the amount of time he spends on the job, Wheeler said.

In other business, voters returned incumbent Selectmen A. Theodore Baker, fire Chief Glenn Holt and SAD 52 Director Catherine Carey to office.

They approved a $780,388 budget that included $530,200 in general municipal spending – running town offices, paying fire, public works budgets and maintaining roads – as well $50,000 for used road equipment and $70,000 for additional road repairs.

The town agreed to continue saving for an anticipated revaluation in 2008 by raising and appropriating $16,000 to add to an existing fund of $48,000. The last revaluation was conducted in 1992.