ROXBURY – Tempers simmered just below the boiling point at Monday night’s selectmen’s meeting when a resident asked about the need for a fire department if its budget was going to spike $10,000 or more.

Most of the one-hour meeting was devoted to fire department issues and saw resident Bob Worthley clash repeatedly with fire Chief Jim Theriault.

Worthley’s main lament during an off-topic foray into the department’s budget was the impending rise in taxation to cover municipal growth needs. Selectmen were discussing whether or not to pay the chief and assistant chief for responding to calls.

“We’ve got to start looking at taxes,” Worthley told Selectmen Mark Touchette, Alan Hodgkins and Douten Thomas.

“You know darn well they’re going up. Three, four, five mills, that’s a hell of a jump for this town,” Worthley said.

Chairman Touchette said the department’s annual budget has been $5,000 for as long as he could recall.

But, he added, with more manpower now than Roxbury’s ever had – a dozen firefighters – and the need to meet state mandates, Touchette foresees the budget doubling.

Theriault expects it to climb higher.

Then, Theriault said he didn’t get the $80,000 grant he was seeking, and asked permission to try for a $15,000 grant. That’s when Worthley suggested checking with Andover to see if they’d take over Roxbury’s firefighting needs.

“This town can’t afford to go up 100 percent. I’m not looking to screw out the fire department,” Worthley said.

Touchette said he could raise his concerns in January when selectmen start reviewing department budgets. Town meeting is in March. Worthley continued to vent.

“If it’s going to go up $15,000 to $20,000, that’s way out of reach,” he said, before finishing with a comment about fire protection coverage that further antagonized Theriault.

“Do I have to listen to him?” the chief asked Touchette, who promptly stifled further comment from Worthley.

“I think we have the best fire coverage we’ve ever had,” Touchette said.

Theriault again sought permission to apply for the grant, but appeared to be discouraged when told by all three selectmen that it was up to townspeople, because a grant would require raising a matching percentage.

In other business, selectmen agreed to pay Theriault and Assistant Chief Ray Carver for call responses for this year – in addition to their stipends – based on past town practice. Next year, though, the matter will be debated, Touchette said.

The board also reviewed two draft department policies dealing with required attendance at training exercises and probationary status. A final vote is expected at the next meeting.

On both documents, Touchette struck the word “volunteer” from the department’s name, calling it instead, the Roxbury Municipal Fire Department.

One new policy requires all Roxbury firefighters to attend 75 percent of all related training exercises, and 75 percent of all actual calls. Most of the training is to meet state standards.

The other policy states that any new firefighter will be on probation for a year from date of hire. During this time, the new employee will be evaluated by all four department officers, and can be let go for improper etiquette or disservice to the department.

Probationary firefighters also cannot display any type of flashing red light on the front of their vehicle for the first six months.