MOUNT VERNON -- A pending fiscal year change for Kennebec County will have an impact on the town's own budget.

The county is planning to change its fiscal year to match the state's July 1-to-June 30 budget cycle. Currently, the county budget corresponds to the calendar year.

The change, Selectman Clyde Dyar said, will require the county to do a "transition budget" spanning either six or eighteen months, and would result in an extra payment for all towns in the county.

Dyar said a six-month budget is currently being considered by the county's Budget Committee, with a payment plan that would allow towns to amortize the payment over five years.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Susan Herman said the town's $235,000 bill for county taxes was paid this week and noted the town would have no ability to make a payment on the county's transitional budget before July 2010.

Dyar said he was unsure whether towns would be charged interest on any payment options offered.

In other business, selectmen:

* Voted to adopt the state-mandated increases to the General Assistance maximums.

* Discussed with Road Commissioner Jeff Kent the purchase of sand and salt for winter road maintenance. Kent said he purchased salt for $78.14 per ton and sand at $4 a ton plus trucking costs.

Kent said fall grading work has been completed as well as improvements to the end of Ithiel Gordon Road.

He is currently installing a culvert as part of an improvement project on North Taylor Road.

* Received the first payment for scrap metal under a new contract with OneSteel Recycling. Selectman Russell Libby said the payment of $1,213 was for the month of September.

Dyar added that monies due for scrap metal hauled by Newport Metal prior to September would most likely never be received.

The town allowed the contract with Newport Metal to expire in the spring after the company claimed no payment was due the town because the price of the metal had dropped below the cost of hauling. Libby said the company had also stopped providing records of the quantity hauled.

* Discussed with Town Clerk Rachel Meader an ongoing problem with the computer network in the Town Office. Selectmen suggested a review of the network configuration to establish what work or equipment might be needed.

* Discussed ongoing projects at the Town Office, including barriers to block the area of the parking lot under which the new septic tank is located, an asphalt pad to be installed at the end of the entrance ramp, a new entrance door that meets Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, and possibly a two-lamp spotlight to fully light the ramp and the flagpole.

* Signed thank you letters to Downeast Energy for its donation of $520 in fuel for heating aid; and to resident Stan Hapeman for painting the side stairs at the Town Office.