HEBRON — Voters at town meeting Saturday approved a budget slightly less than $640,000, including $110,000 to resurface a limited number of Hebron roads in what one committeeman said is only the start of a long-term solution to fund roadwork.

“Our dilemma is, how do we repair roads and do it in a sustainable way in the next 20 to 30 years?” Road Committee member Josh Hounsell asked of about 50 voters who turned out for the meeting and town election at Hebron Station School.

While town meeting voters agreed to pay $110,000 to continue the process this year, Hounsell said the town must decide how to pay for the roadwork going forward. The Road Committee has surveyed every road in town, and based on its analysis, major work is needed on about five roads, including portions of Station Road, Town End Road and Sturtevant Hill Road.

Hounsell said there are several ways the town can pay for the work, including bonding $800,000 over 10 years, paying $94,000 the first year with diminishing payment each of the following nine years; a five-year bond for $450,000, paying $97,000 the first year down to $91,000 the last year of payment; or a 10-year bond for $450,000, paying $83,000 the first year down to $45,000 the 10th year.

Hounsell said the town would look at the various options for funding and probably return to next year’s town meeting with a recommendation on how to proceed.

In other road maintenance action, voters approved $88,357 for the maintenance of summer roads and $170,000 for the maintenance of winter roads. Selectman Dan Eichorn said the town had already spent $113,000 on winter road maintenance to date in the new fiscal year, which runs on a calendar year from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. Voters approved Eichorn’s motion to increase the winter care maintenance from the Budget Committee’s recommendation of $140,000 to $170,000.

In other action, voters approved $105,000 for the town officers’ expense account and $42,000 for the Fire Department. No pay raises were included in this year’s budget.

Voters did question the future of the transfer station, asking whether it might be financially wiser to go to a household pickup system, what to do with waste oil that will no longer be accepted at the site and whether a composting site could be established. Selectmen said they would look at several ideas over the next year.

Selectmen said students from Oxford Hills Technical School would be constructing a building at the transfer station this spring using funds approved at town meeting last year.

Voters re-elected Selectman Dan Eichorn. Joan Clough as town clerk and tax collector, William Clough as Moody Library trustee and Dennis Lajoie to the Oxford Hills School District Board of Directors. Vern Maxfield was elected moderator of the town meeting.

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