PARIS — Selectmen will hold a special meeting Thursday with the Budget Committee to address how an overlay will fit into the committee’s recommended 2012-13 spending plan.
Last week committee members approved the budget that Town Manager Phil Tarr submitted to them. Tarr said the only major change was a reduction of the capital improvements budget for road repair from $489,000 to $400,000 in order to keep the tax rate increase to $1.
The $489,000 originally budgeted for roadwork was part of a 10-year plan set by Tarr and Highway Foreman Dan Nowell. Tarr said $400,000 will give the town “a reasonably good start.”
Because the town can’t start work until after the town approves the capital improvement budget in June, $400,000 will allow the town to do most of the work planned. The plan calls for work on Elm Hill Road, Paris Hill Road, Brett Hill Road, Twitchell Road, Lincoln Street, Cobble Hill Road and Alpine Street. The town might not get to all of them.
Committee member Peter Kilgore suggested the $1 tax rate cap at the March 15 meeting. Last year, the committee approved a budget with no tax increase, but expenses, including the deteriorating condition of the roads, forced Paris to budget more.
However, the budget doesn’t include an overlay, a cash reserve towns plan out in case property tax revenues are lower than expected.
“That can increase the tax rate,” Tarr said Tuesday. He said the overlay is typically about 1 to 5 percent of the budget. Last year, it was 2 percent.
The Board of Selectmen met Monday morning to recommend a budget for the June 16 town meeting, but found there was no overlay budgeted. Rather than push against the tax increase limit, the board set a special meeting with the Budget Committee to resolve the issue.
“We’ll see where both bodies want to go,” Tarr said of the committee and selectmen. “I think this thing is solvable.”
Selectmen and the committee will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Paris Town Office.
treaves@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
