BUCKFIELD — Voters at the annual town meeting Saturday approved a $1.45 million budget and OK’d the construction of a new fire/rescue building for $1.2 million in a 31-28 ballot vote.

Oxford County Commissioner Scott Cole moderated the meeting that lasted more than four hours in the auditorium of Buckfield Junior/Senior High School.

About 60 voters turned out for Saturday’s meeting, beginning with a moment of silence for Rodney Allen, a former Buckfield selectman who passed away Nov. 25, 2012.

Voters said they were primarily concerned about how the town could afford to construct a new 80- by 100-foot fire/rescue station and questioned how that department would be funded without increasing taxes.

Architect Andy Hyland of Port City Architects said construction of a new station on the existing site would be considerably less expensive than a full-scale renovation of the 60-year-old building.

Fire/Rescue Chief Lisa Buck said the recommended $160,810 budget, approved by voters Saturday, would cover a $2-an-hour on-call wage for volunteers to work weekends. The department is currently in need of local volunteers, she said, which for years have been “fading away.”

“Two dollars an hour, to me, isn’t a whole lot of money to ask for help,” Buck said, adding that it’s much cheaper than paying for responders outside Buckfield. “What’s going to happen to your tax dollars then?”

“Increasingly, there are gaps in our ability to respond (to calls),” Town Manager Dana Lee said. “It’s very unsettling.”

Voters also approved $100,100 for the Buckfield Fire Department. Money will pay for salaries and wages, employer contributions, training, communications, equipment, apparatus, turnout gear and insurance for vehicles and equipment, Lee said.

Fire Chief Tim Brooks said the department is looking to purchase air bottles, a new ladder and turnout gear. According to Brooks, it costs $2,000 to outfit one firefighter.

In addition, voters approved $198,325 for administration; $7,860 for tax assessing; $16,625 for the Recreation Committee; $4,750 for social services; $122,800 for winter road maintenance and $350,000 for summer road maintenance and improvements.

Glen Holmes, director of the Western Maine Economic Development Council, spoke on behalf of the owner of Tilton’s Market, saying that the Tilton’s Market property has been sold to the owner of Poirier’s Market in Lewiston.

He will expand his business to Buckfield, to include Tilton’s, and will keep the name, Holmes said.

“He hopes everyone will be happy to come back and excited to shop locally,” he said.

Tilton’s is expected to reopen sometime in mid-July.