OXFORD — Voters will be asked to approve a $4.5 million budget at the annual town meeting Saturday, June 11.

The meeting begins at 10 a.m. in Oxford Elementary School on Pleasant Street.

The proposed $4.5 million is a 16 percent, or $630,000, increase over the current fiscal budget. Last year, voters approved $3.87 million for local spending.

“We’re reasonably on line,” Budget Committee Chairman Alexander Luke said.

One of the largest increases voters will see is a $340,000 increase in the Wastewater Treatment Facility budget, from $181,280 to $520,068 for fiscal year 2017.

The increase is due to the new wastewater treatment plant that is going online. Luke said that borrowed money will be paid for through user fees.

The sewer fee increases to be paid by residents and businesses, including the new 90-room Hampton Inn across the street from the Oxford Casino, have not been decided, he said.

The hotel is set to open this summer. 

The $23.7 million sewer plant is in Welchville village near the intersection of Routes 26 and 121. When completed, it will allow sewage piped from miles of lines up and down Route 26 and King Street to be treated and the sterilized water discharged into the nearby Little Androscoggin River. 

The sewer system is viewed by the town and developers as an integral component in enticing businesses to the region following the opening of the casino in 2012.

Voters will also see an increase of $105,017 in the Police Department budget from $790,803 to $895,820 this fiscal year.

Police Chief Jonathan Tibbetts said, “When you factor in the approximately $69,000 MDEA grant and the $45,000 in outside details, which are paid for through billing the organization hiring the officer, the actual Police Department budget is approximately $781,000, which is approximately $9,000 less than the current budget,” Tibbetts said.

Tibbetts said the MDEA grant will pay to backfill a position to cover the officer assigned to MDEA.

The increases are also due to increases in the cost of benefits, raises and salary adjustments. Almost all of the the increases are directly related to personnel costs.

“The Police Department has the most full-time employees of all the departments, thus the size of the budget,” Tibbetts said.

“The town is growing creating an increase in calls that is putting a strain on police services as well as all emergency services,” Tibbetts said.

The Administrative Account increase of $86,460 — to $670,480 from the proposed $584,020 — is due in part to upgrading the computer system and health insurance premium increases.

Increases in the Recreation Department budget from $58,499 to the proposed $82,765 are for the new ball field on Pismo Beach, personnel and other costs, he said.

In other action, voters will be asked to appropriate:

* Rescue, $322,683, an increase from $265,292;

* Fire Department, $381,469, an increase from $341,338;

* Transfer Station, $248,470, an increase from $240,205; and

* Freeland Holmes Library, $31,312, an increase from $30,600.

Voters will also be asked to approve $395,000 for capital improvements, including road maintenance, a new firetruck, new highway equipment, work at Welchville and Thompson Lake dams and a highway vehicle.

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