ROXBURY – In a “bare-bones budget” town of less than 400 people, $6,000 just wasn’t enough to operate its rebuilding fire department.

With three months remaining in Roxbury’s fiscal year, selectmen have scheduled a special town meeting to resolve that issue and others at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the Route 17 fire station.

Selectmen Mark Touchette and Alan Hodgkins said Friday they expect a charged atmosphere at the meeting. Over the past two years, fiery verbal exchanges have erupted – mostly over fire department issues – among the town’s three selectmen, past selectmen, residents, fire chiefs and firefighters.

More than once last year, the entire firefighting force quit when their fire chief of 49 years was forced to resign, leaving mutual aid towns to handle fires and accidents in and around Roxbury.

This year, with the hiring of Mexico police Chief Jim Theriault of Roxbury Pond as fire chief, Roxbury appeared to be getting its act together, much to the delight of neighboring mutual aid fire departments and Mexico and Andover selectmen.

At Wednesday’s special town meeting, selectmen are seeking permission to dip into a rarely used savings account to keep the department solvent. They also want to sell Roxbury’s 1974 International Bean fire truck.

In early May, the town took delivery of a 2006 Kenworth pumper-tanker fire truck, purchased with a $154,800 Homeland Security grant and a town match of $17,200.

Theriault, who did not return calls left Friday and Saturday, wants to park the old truck at Roxbury Pond village for fire protection; town officials want it put out to bid.

Complicating matters, Hodgkins said department proponents have placed flyers in people’s mailboxes and started a petition drive.

“It’s been a feud, and, it’s just getting crazy,” he said.

Touchette and Hodgkins both said they don’t believe the town can support two fire trucks.

“We’re building a new fire house/town office that’s pretty centralized for the town, and, we feel we have the best coverage we’ve ever had with mutual-aid agreements and manpower that Jim’s brought in,” Touchette said.

Hodgkins said he doesn’t believe most residents are aware of the issue, because selectmen meetings are sparsely attended.

“If the truck goes up there, it’s the start of a new fire department for the town of Roxbury,” a town consisting mostly of people under the age of 18 and retirees, he said.

By centrally locating the fire station on Route 17 closer to the pond village, which is off Route 120, a short distance from Andover, Hodgkins said the new fire truck is all they need.

“To me, it looks like they want another fire department up there, which is why I’m for selling the truck. We can’t support two fire departments.

“Roxbury has always operated on a bare-bones shoestring budget, but this year, the fire department is way over. We’ve got financial problems just trying to maintain one centrally located department,” Hodgkins said.

At town meeting in March, voters OK’d raising $6,000 for the fire department’s operating account and $5,659 for its equipment reserve account. Town Clerk Christine “Tina” Howard said the reserve account has little money remaining.

Touchette said the operating account was overspent due to unanticipated costs like a state mandate requiring all Roxbury firefighters to get inoculated so they could respond to vehicle accidents. The volunteer department has a roster of 12 to 14 firefighters, Howard said.

Other warrant articles include authorizing selectmen to transfer money from the savings account to the summer roads account to cover the cost of town road repairs, and authorizing selectmen to accept donations and gifts on behalf of the fire department.