LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen are expected Monday to rescind their Oct. 20 vote to exchange 15 tons of road salt in lieu of some of the payment the town would owe a contractor for cutting trees.

The vote also allowed up to 35 more tons of salt to be sold to local contractors, with each request to go before the board for a decision.

The Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments sent an advisory letter to town managers and road commissioners Oct. 24 in reference to bartering and selling salt to private contractors.

AVCOG Planning Director Fergus Lee said Friday that he usually sends a reminder to towns in the bid specifications that the salt should not be sold or exchanged, but he hadn’t done so in a couple of years.

About 50 towns participate in the cooperative purchasing of salt, Lee said.

Vendors have raised concerns in the past about towns selling salt that is bought through the cooperative purchasing agreement, he said.

“It’s somewhat minor, but there have been reports of it occurring” in different areas in the past, Lee said.

The vendors set higher prices for smaller quantities of road salt when they sell directly to private contractors, he said.

In the past, when vendors have found towns selling or trading road salt for work, they have threatened to cancel the agreement, Lee said.

A town would also be liable for sales tax if the salt is traded or given to the private sector, he said.

Selectmen plan to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Town Office.

Livermore Falls Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Louise Chabot said the board should have waited to see whether they could exchange the salt for the work or sell it before making a decision. She didn’t think about the sales tax issue at the time, she said.

“I think we’ll have to rescind the vote,” Chabot said.