PARIS – County commissioners approved a grant Tuesday for a domestic violence investigator for the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office.

Commissioners agreed to an amended motion by Commissioner David Duguay in which the position will come in at or under its $69,000 annual budget, possibly by reducing the investigator’s workload.

The motion requires that the Sheriff’s Office submit a detailed plan for how any additional costs to the county incurred due to the position will be paid. It also allows for the purchase of a car for the investigator, paid for with up to $3,000 seized from drug busts.

“I thought we were pretty clear upfront that we could support this if it wouldn’t cost the county money,” Duguay said.

The position is funded through the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and will allow an investigator to provide safety checks and assistance to victims of domestic violence.

Lt. Hart Daley of the Sheriff’s Office said he originally applied for $97,000 to allow safety checks weekly.

Sheriff Wayne Gallant said at a commission meeting earlier this month that the department is considering ways to cut fuel costs to help support the position.

Commissioners also approved an extension of safety checks on domestic violence victims by a response team to September 2008 to allow for the full expenditure of grant funds. The agreement between the Sheriff’s Office and the Maine Department of Public Safety was set to expire Monday.

The amount of money in the contract was also increased by $978.28 to $38,819.28 due to unused grant funds allocated to the Rumford Police Department rolling over into the extended period.