ROXBURY – If town meeting voters next month OK all money articles in the warrant, taxes will increase about $1 per thousand dollars of assessed property value, Board of Selectmen Chairman Mark Touchette said at Friday night’s meeting.

The current tax rate is $15.91. Of the proposed budget of $373,122, $247,222 would be raised from taxes, an increase of $25,479 from 2007.

The municipal budget doesn’t include the town’s share of the SAD 43 and Oxford County budgets. Those are finalized later in the year.

At Friday night’s meeting, Touchette and Selectman Deborah Deroche reviewed the 66-article warrant and made a few tweaks, but disagreed on the board’s recommendation for the Fire Department budget. That generated the most discussion.

However, since Roxbury hasn’t had a third selectman since August when Alan Hodgkins resigned, Touchette said the matter would be left up to voters.

Fire Chief Ray Carver submitted a budget request of $14,900, down $450 from last year’s $15,350. Deroche and Town Clerk Tina Howard, who has filed papers for the vacant selectman’s seat, wanted it further reduced. For many years, the town only raised $5,000 for its Fire Department.

Howard took issue with Carver’s request for $5,000 for call and training pay and $4,000 for turnout gear.

“Every year you go to taxpayers and say, ‘We want another $15,000.’ Why don’t you apply for grants?” Howard asked.

Carver replied that he can’t seek grants until Howard and selectmen take an incident management course to get the town into compliance with federal rules.

“All of my guys are compliant,” Carver said of his 12-man crew. “It’s all about natural disasters, and you guys all play a role. When the big hurricane hit New Orleans, no one was on the same page. So if we have a natural disaster, you three have to be on the same page.”

Carver said he lowered his budget as much as he dared, but didn’t want to pare $1,200 for a gas monitor meter. He said the department needs one so firefighters can enter a building to check for carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases.

“I want to protect the guys,” he said.

Howard, Touchette and Deroche agreed with him.

Then, regarding his budget, Touchette said, “We’ve been at $5,000 for a long time. We’ve been pretty slim on the Fire Department for a long time … Right now we have a good, healthy Fire Department and we should support them. We’ve got the best fire protection we’ve ever had.”

“I think we’ve got the best department we’ve had in years,” Howard added.