MALTA — A new committee will lay the groundwork for a long-term town fire protection study to determine how the town’s two volunteer fire companies will be affected by Advanced Micro Devices’ plans to build a computer chip factory at the Luther Forest Technology Campus.

The Town Board on Monday established a panel to come up with a scope of services and estimated cost for the study.

The committee will include representatives of the town, the Malta Ridge and Round Lake fire companies, the village of Round Lake, and AMD Fab Technologies U.S., the new corporation expected to take over AMD’s plans as part of a pending corporate restructuring.

AMD is going to be giving the town $100,000 for planning studies, but the fire protection study will probably cost less than that. Any remaining money can be used for other planning studies.

“The group is going to come up with a cost figure, then the town will decide whether or not to do it,” said Town Attorney Tom Peterson.

In recent months, the two volunteer fire companies have said the $4.6 billion computer chip plant and secondary growth that could follow it will put new demands on the fire companies, and a professional study is needed so they can prepare.

The town of Stillwater, which shares the Luther Forest Technology Campus site with Malta, is also receiving $100,000 from AMD to be used for planning studies.

The Town Board is talking about a townwide recreation plan, and voted Monday to raise the per-lot recreation fee charged to developers of new housing. The fee, set at $1,000 per lot in 2005, is being increased to $1,150. The money goes into a fund for development of future recreation facilities, and town officials said the fee needed adjustment to reflect rising costs.

“That’s basically the rate of inflation over the last four years,” said Town Supervisor Paul Sausville.

The town recreation fund currently has about $400,000 in it, town comptroller Kevin King said. That money is for construction of new park and recreation facilities.

The board also voted to hire property assessment consultants GAR Associates of Amherst, Erie Co., to help the town do annual assessment updates. The firm will be paid $25,000 for assistance with data collection and other tasks this spring.

GAR Associates was the primary consultant to Town Assessor Sue Otis on a townwide property revaluation that was completed in 2008. Otis favors doing annual updates so that assessments reflect the actual market value of properties from year to year.