NORWAY – Voters at a special town meeting tonight will be asked to support the library trustees’ $12,000 request for unanticipated employee health insurance and the Police Department’s $25,000 request to lease two new patrol cars.

Action on the four-article warrant gets under way at 7 p.m. in the Norway Town Hall.

Riding on the crest of a one-vote budget victory at Monday night’s annual town meeting, library trustees are coming back to voters Thursday night to ask for money to cover an overrun this fiscal year.

Library Trustee Sallie Nealand said the overrun was caused by a shift in library staff health insurance costs over the past year.

“A year ago we had somewhat of a turnover in staff. Most had been electing not to take health insurance and the retirement we offered. Now almost everyone is electing to take it,” Nealand explained.

Voters narrowly approved the fiscal 2008 library budget Monday night that had increased from $187,000 in fiscal 2007 to $224,000. Nealand said the increase was due largely to higher utility costs.

Nealand said the library has raised funds and saved money by working with schools to conduct children’s programming. Other cost-saving measures include appropriating money in the budget for a half-time staff member who will do tasks, such as mailing inter-library loan books, that had been performed by the higher-paid staff.

Nealand said the library has a stable and professional staff now, but as with other departments, utility and health insurance costs continue to be difficult to budget.

Voters will also be asked to spend $25,000 to make the first of three annual payments on two new police patrol cars. The money will come from the $27,000 that Falmouth paid Norway for an officer Norway trained at Norway’s expense who then joined the Falmouth force.

Police Chief Robert Federico said the two new cruisers will replace two in the five-vehicle fleet. A Ford is being replaced because it has 95,000 miles, and a Chevrolet Impala is being replaced because it has just 52,000 miles.

Federico said he purchased a cruiser and an SUV three years ago when he was hired as chief and hopes to get into a routine replacement plan where the cars are traded in by the time they reach 100,000 miles.

The chief said he budgets about $8,000 annually for car repairs. The cruisers have 75,000-mile, three-year warranties.

The ideal goal, he said, is to take the cruisers to their warranty terms and then trade them while they still have some value.

In other action, voters will be asked to appropriate $2,000 for general administration to pay for higher than anticipated legal fees, $1,500 for an increase in electricity and street lights, and $20,000 for the Highway Department that the town anticipates will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.