ROXBURY — Selectmen voiced discontent Wednesday night with Roxbury’s estimated tax assessment from Oxford County, approved a fuel pricing bid and heard updates on code enforcement and cemetery matters.
Board of Selectmen Chairman John Sutton said the board decided to hold a budget workshop at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the Town Office to discuss the county tax assessment and ongoing budget work. It is open to the public.
The estimate is $135,480, which is $21,217 more than last year’s assessment.
“What we’re looking at is our county commitment budget, because their projection is greater than what our estimate is,” Sutton said. He held up a breakdown of the $5.5 million county budget.
Roxbury’s assessment doesn’t include the town’s efforts to get extra county police patrols during the summer in Roxbury Pond Village, he said.
Selectman Tim Derouche said the board wants more information from the county about what Roxbury is getting for the increase.
Sutton said he didn’t understand figures associated with the county jail budget.
The board voted 3-0 to lock in a fuel pricing bid through April 2016 of $2.148 through Maine Power Options.
Renee Hodsdon, deputy town clerk, tax collector and treasurer, read an update from Code Enforcement Officer Robert Folsom Sr., who was absent.
Folsom said he spoke with the owner of the property with two camper trailers on it and learned one trailer doesn’t belong to him. After speaking with that owner, Folsom learned he is in the process of moving it while waiting for a space to open up in a trailer park.
The other trailer is being converted into a car trailer, Hodsdon said. Folsom also dealt with a property with multiple vehicles parked on it. Two are on the property owner’s land and two are on his father’s abutting land, she said. As a result, Folsom told her that they are all set and not in violation of town standards.
Selectmen unanimously voted to accept a cemetery surveyor’s estimate of up to $430 to create a new map of the Pine View Cemetery after the town took a section of four-person lots and converted them into two-person lots. The town sells its cemetery lots at $50 per person, making it $100 per two-person lot, Hodsdon said.
The board also discussed a quitclaim deed from Peter and Kathleen Thompson, who paid for two plots and want to deed them back to the town. Derouche said he would meet with them to get more information.
Sutton also said Roxbury is trying to create a cemetery ordinance. He brought two ordinances from other towns to give to Town Clerk Nina Hodgkins, who is also on the Cemetery Committee. The committee will determine if it should add information from either ordinance into Roxbury’s draft, which Hodgkins said she adapted from Newry’s cemetery ordinance.
Hodgkins said she wants to have an attorney review the completed draft document to ensure it is what Roxbury needs. Derouche said he would review the two ordinances that Sutton provided and meet with the committee.
The board also announced the following meetings in the Town Office:
* The Ellis Pond Watershed Committee will meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9.
* The board’s next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10.
* A public informational meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, with Maine Department of Transportation representatives to discuss planned reconstruction work on Route 17 in Roxbury and Byron.
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