OXFORD — Oxford’s board of selectmen and budget committee held their first joint meeting last Thursday to hear Town Manager Adam Garland’s presentation of the 2024-25 municipal budget.

Garland said the budget for next year includes hiring one full-time police officer and one full-time laborer to the highway department.

The operating budget is expected to increase by $413,000, with new employees adding $160,000 in payroll for a overall increase of $573,000.

“The big items to note are administration seeing an increase of $137,000,” Garland told the board and committee. “The reason for that is the addition of a full-time assessing agent and cost-of-living adjustments. I’ve proposed a 3.2% COLA raise. Health and retirement benefits are also affecting the administrative budget.

“The police budget increases by $75,000 due to its collective bargaining agreement and also staff turnover.”

The highway budget is set to increase by $44,000, mostly for salary and benefit expenses but also due to road maintenance costs. One change for that department is putting summer mowing out to third-party bid instead of hiring a seasonal part-time employee for the work.

Payroll and benefit increases will add $67,000 to the fire department. Workers’ Compensation rates are set to increase for EMT employees to be the same as fire fighters.

The budget for Oxford’s Public Safety Building will decrease slightly due to lower projected fuel costs.

In the recreation department, expenses for activities and sports will transition to its reserve account, which will allow for them to be matched by fundraising revenues.

“Any money leftover from fundraising will roll over into the next year,” Garland said. “So $12,000 is moving from the operating budget over to the capital side.”

Rising demand for general assistance has resulted in a 2024 budget increase of $6,500. The transfer station budget will increase by $34,000, mostly because new hires are choosing more expensive benefits packages than employees who have retired over the last year. Sewer department spending will go up by $23,000 for employee and utility expenses.

Municipal operations will go up by $33,000. Liability insurance is also expected to rise. Library and other third-party requests have gone up by $13,000.

Debt from road bonds will drop by $5,400.

Town wide, the capital request budget for next year stands at about $600,000 and will be considered by the board and budget committee by department.

The next budget meeting is scheduled for March 14 at the Public Safety Building, with focus on analysis of the police department, public safety buildings and recreation budgets.

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