Oxford will replace Engine 5 in its fire department fleet in the next fiscal year. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

OXFORD — When annual town meeting rolls around in June, voters in Oxford will be presented with a 2025-2026 budget of $6,648,629, with the Select Board agreeing to maintain status quo wherever possible as the costs to run the town continue to rise.

Every department will see increased spending in the next fiscal year.

The lone exception is a $5,000 decrease in general assistance, from $14,256 last year down to $9,184 for 2025.

The 5.6% increase is slightly less than what Town Manager Adam Garland previewed last month when Oxford’s Budget Committee and Select Board met for their first joint meeting.

With the initial budget draft showing a 7% increase, in March Garland proposed shifting some purchases from next year’s capital investment fund to instead come out of fund balance policy account could save more than $200,000.

Capital investment in this year’s budget had spiked to over $1 million, but only accounted for $50,000 the previous year, following revenue losses during the pandemic.

Bottom-line spending will drop from $7.3 million to $6.96 million from last year to this, with a net decrease of $343,795. With departmental spending up across the board, cutting capital investment offers a reprieve to taxpayers.

As Garland proposed scaling back capital investment in the coming year, Fire Rescue Chief Ashley Wax-Armstrong proposed during the board’s March 20 session adding eight full-time firefighter and EMS staff, which she projected would take her proposed 2025 budget from $1.12 million to $1.2 million.

Selectmen were skeptical not just that that many employees could be hired quickly but also of Wax-Armstrong’s projections and asked her to provide an alternative plan to add four full-time positions instead.

At its final budget review meeting one week, the board was still not convinced of the projected costs to expand to a full-time first responder crew and left the proposal out of next year’s budget.

Selectmen Caldwell Jackson said his concern would be increasing the fire rescue budget by $190,000 so soon after property taxes spiked following Oxford’s 2023 real estate revolution, with Chairman Floyd Thayer in agreement.

“I get a lot of calls” from taxpayers, Jackson said. “I’m on a set income too. It would be hard for the taxpayers.”

Selectperson Sharon Jackson said the plan should have come to the board ahead of the budgeting process, with enough time to focus on it in workshops.

Vice-Chair Dana Dillingham said before he can support it he will want to review the financial impact not just for year one of a larger department but for its second and third years as well.

Selectman Scott Hunter, who works full-time for Auburn’s fire department and has served as Oxford’s chief in the past, concurred with Sharon Jackson that the board needs more time to consider the plan.

“It’s a major change and the town is heading in that direction,” Hunter said. “And staffing has been an issue for many, many years now. I think we should work on this and work on a plan prior to next year’s budget.”