OTISFIELD – Selectmen agreed Wednesday to pay one-third more to have private contractors plow small roads because of higher gas prices.

The board offered a price of $40 an hour to contractors Richard Bean Jr. and Frank Blauvelt, who use pickup trucks with plows to clear small roads in town.

Both men agreed, but said they still need to check with their insurance provider to be sure the deal makes sense financially.

Bean and Blauvelt had been paid between $29.50 and $30.50 hourly, depending on the size of the truck. But they told the board they couldn’t even break even at that rate, given increases in gas prices and the cost of mandatory commercial insurance.

“It’s just crazy,” said Bean. “It costs $60 a pop to fill up two or three trucks, and then pay $10 to $12 an hour for a driver.” A tank of gas in a heavy storm would only cover 100 miles, he said.

At first, Head Selectman Lenny Adler suggested the town could pick up the gas costs over $1 a gallon. But both men said such a system would be too hard to track.

Blauvelt quoted prices in the $45 an hour range for plowing by private construction companies such as P & K Sand and Gravel of Naples and Pratt Industries.

The board also approved a notice of a change in policy for contractors and commercial haulers for dumping at the Casco/Naples Bulky Waste facility in Casco.

Effective Jan. 1, 2005, the town will be charging 5 cents a pound for separated materials and 20 cents a pound for mixed or contaminated materials for all bulky waste hauled by vehicles with a commercial permit or those hauling commercial bulky waste.

The policy allows contractors and commercial haulers to haul their own residential bulky waste for free in a commercial vehicle, but they must get a temporary permit to do so from the town office.

The board also approved having town employees take Dec. 24 as their Christmas holiday, and Jan. 1 as a floating holiday.