WOODSTOCK – Selectmen have scheduled a special town meeting for Tuesday, Dec. 30, to seek approval of emergency funds for the highway department.

Town Manager Vern Maxfield said voters will be asked to appropriate $55,000 from the overlay account to cover winter road expenses into 2009.

“We have recently been faced with much higher than usual costs in road maintenance … in fuel, extra labor costs and salt for our winter sand stockpile. These are tough times, but we will get through the best we can,” Maxfield said.

The 6 p.m. meeting will be held in the town office conference room in Bryant Pond.

Selectmen also announced a public hearing at 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to review plans by landowner and developer Lloyd Poland of Oxford for his Rustic Outlook development off Route 26 in South Woodstock.

The town recently accepted the development road as a town way. The DEP must review the plans to ensure that runoff and future homes will not harm the environment.

The road is already in, built to town specifications, but the state still wants the review. For more information on the hearing contact the town office at 665-2668.