STRONG — Town Office software purchases will streamline services for office staff and customers who register vehicles, officials said Tuesday.

Selectmen approved buying two pieces of motor vehicle registration software that allows the two office employees to process paperwork, including receipts, for vehicle registration.

“RHR, our accountant, highly recommended the motor vehicle program,” Board of Selectmen Chairman Joan Reed said.

The $7,000 TRIO software program connects electronically with the Maine Department of Motor Vehicles database. The data on each vehicle will be available and updated, so staff will not have to rely on registrants to provide that information. Selectmen agreed the new system will eliminate many of the hours spent on manual record keeping and will decrease reporting errors.

“And you’re going to get waited on faster,” town treasurer and office manager Sandra Mitchell told selectmen.

Mitchell will schedule the software installation and training.

The town’s garage account is running low, according to Selectman Mike Pond. He said several projects and repairs have depleted funds, and Duayne Boyd, the road foreman, must pay for oil and pellets for the 2013 winter season. Pond suggested selectmen may have to call a special town meeting to ask for more money.

Selectmen asked Pond to review the expected expenses and determine the need for a town meeting. Townspeople approved $9,500 for the garage account at the March town meeting. There is only about $900 left, and water, phone and electric bills will take most of that, according to Mitchell.

In other news, property owner Eunice Shurtleff asked for a tax abatement for her camp. She said there was no access for firetrucks or other emergency vehicles, and asked selectmen to not bill her anything for 2013 taxes.

Reed said Shurtleff must start any abatement requests with Robert Worthley, the selectmen’s assessing agent.

“You have until Feb. 14 of next year to file,” she told Shurtleff. “I understand that he (Worthley) says yea or nay, and then it goes to the selectmen, and they say yea or nay, and then it goes to commissioners, and then it can go to court.”