Oxford County budget up 7.4 percent

PARIS — Oxford County commissioners voted at their Dec. 18 meeting to enact a $7.5 million budget, an increase of 7.4 percent over the previous year.

Interim County Administrator Tom Winsor said the total tax commitment for the 2019 budget is $7.5 million, an increase of $518,679 from the 2018 budget.

The county’s capital reserve requests saw the largest increase from the previous year’s budget. The commissioners approved the $149,593 budget for capital reserve requests, an increase of $84,543 over the previous year.

The increase in the capital reserve requests stems from the Oxford County Regional Communications Center, which requested $58,114 more than the previous year.

Winsor said that the increase in the communication center’s capital reserve request stemmed from concerns that Interim Director of Communications Geff Inman has about the age and state of the equipment in his department.

“The Budget Committee was mindful of the work that needs to be done within the department to make it run,” Winsor said.

The Emergency Management Agency budget, which was set at $374,053 in 2018, saw a 32.8 percent, or $86,255, increase in the 2019 budget.

Winsor said the increase in the EMA budget included the salary of the program planner position, which increased from $16,484 to $35,360.

“Last year, when we filled that program planner position, we did it around June or July, so there was only a half year’s salary included in the budget,” Winsor said. “The increase in that budget represents the first full year that the position is filled.”

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