Oxford residents will be asked to vote on a 2026-27 municipal budget that proposes two different bottom lines.

The budget articles and several ordinance changes will be presented at the annual town meeting on June 6 at 10 a.m. at Oxford Elementary School, 79 Pleasant St.

The budget committee is recommending $7.48 million, which is 10.3% more than the $6.8 million approved for 2025-26.

The Select Board is recommending spending $7.44 million, a 6.7% increase over this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The main difference comes down to how the town should handle its public safety staffing going forward.

“The Select Board recommends not filling two vacant police department positions and three fire department positions,” Town Manager Adam Garland said.

The police department is reviewing applications for a patrolman position formerly held by Mike Rioux, who moved Florida, police Chief Rickie Jack said.

Another vacant patrolman position, formerly held by Spencer Teixeira, is waiting to see whether voters will approve filling it, the police chief said.

The Budget Committee and Select Board are not recommending filling the school resource officer position, Jack said. It was held by Stephen Cronce, who joined the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office and is school resource officer for Regional School Unit 56 in Dixfield.

While the budget committee recommends filling one of the two patrol positions and cutting the second, the Select Board prefers both be cut.

The fire and rescue department has three open full-time positions. The budget committee favors funding two of them, but the Select Board recommends cutting all three.

During 2025’s annual town meeting voters approved expanding the fire and rescue department from a full-time chief with per diem staffing to have the chief plus eight full-time firefighters and EMS workers with benefits.

Following that decision, the department recruited as many as six employees and has five filled and three vacant.

The Select Board’s recommendation is to fund the fire and rescue department at its current staffing level of five-full time firefighters and fire Chief Ashley Wax-Armstrong.

The budget committee recommends cutting one of the vacant fire and rescue jobs and keeping two.

It’s a two-sided coin,” Garland said. “We hear feedback from residents that their tax burden is high and our selectmen are attempting to alleviate that some. But, we also have people who want more public safety and law enforcement. Both perspectives are correct.”

The Select Board supports police and fire department budgets at $1.39 million and $1.29 million, respectively.

The budget committee recommends $1.52 million for the police department and $1.39 million for the fire department.

Garland said the two groups also differ on how to fund Oxford’s recreation department staffing. The Select Board supports increasing the part-time assistant’s role from 20 to 30 hours a week, an increase of $11,000 to the rec budget. However, the budget committee’s recommendation is to maintain the current structure.

“The Select Board’s rationale is that our director, Kayla Laird, needs help with managing weekend and after-hours events,” Garland explained, while the budget committee is satisfied with the status quo arrangements.

Seasonal mowing is another area of contention and one that the town has grappled with in the past. One company put in a bid of $28,552, which would be split between the public works and rec departments. During previous years it has fallen to public works employees to do mowing.

Recognizing it could happen again, the budget committee recommends keeping $8,000 for public works part-time seasonal help. The Select Board supports eliminating that expense.

The board and committee have agreed that after cutting back on capital expenditures last year it is time to develop a capital schedule that rotates equipment purchases for all departments and eliminates the need to rely on loaning money.

“Our goal is to self-fund future acquisitions for expensive acquisitions, like plow and dump trucks, fire trucks and infrastructure,” Garland said. “We will finance our next fire truck, to replace our 1993 model, but our capital reserve plan is to purchase everything after that outright.”

Voters will also be asked to decide on several ordinance changes. One is to limit solar development to the town’s industrial zone. Another would reclassify a zone that includes residences from commercial to mixed use. 

A third would lower the mass gathering permit minimum from 1,000 to 500 people, a move that streamlines administrative sign-off requirements.

There are also proposed changes to updating the cannabis ordinance language to comply with the state. But Garland said many residents have spoken out about the prevalence of cannabis businesses along Main Street/Route 26 and are asking a maximum cap on the number of licenses granted, a change that would have to be taken up at a future town meeting.

Voters will also be asked to approve clarifying language on sexually oriented business licensing and the town’s special amusement ordinance.