PARIS — Last week Paris selectmen opted not to enroll in Opengov.com, as they thought the Web-based service was too expensive and administration already uploaded some town budget documents onto its website.

At the Sept. 14 Paris Selectmen’s meeting, the board voted 4-0 to decline service with the California company, which maintains and displays municipalities’ financial records across the country as a way increase transparency in local government. Selectman Janet Jamison was unable to make the meeting because her car broke down at her out-of-town job.

Jamison was the one who requested the virtual presentation, which was held before a regular selectmen’s meeting last month. Selectmen Chair Robert Wessels said she told him to have the discussion without her last week and “her impression was it was too expensive right now and didn’t feel like pursuing it at this time.”

Last month, selectmen learned all about the service that’s being utilized by municipalities ranging from towns slightly smaller than Paris to large cities such as Detroit. It allows any financial piece of data associated with the town to be searched through the system and website, along with the creation of different graphs and spreadsheets, among other features.

The cost included a one-time set up fee of $1,000 and the service would be $4,000 annually, though Selectman Vic Hodgkins was able to talk the company presenter into cutting the initial fee in half.

Last week, he noted no one else in the state of Maine had signed onto this service yet and was OK with trying to negotiate an even better price for the town.

“You never know if you never ask. … If we want to give him a low ball if we think it’s worthy, then we can give him a low ball, or we can just move on,” Hodgkins said.

Selectman Mike Risica commented that he was “ready to cancel the whole thing.”

Selectman Sam Elliot noted the town’s budget it relatively simple, especially in comparison to the school district’s.

“We can do practically everything they do and more,” he said.

Wessels told Elliot he disagreed with half of his statement.

“I look at Opengov.com and I really like what it can do. I really like the accessibility, I really like the prettiness, the charts, the graphs, you can tweak, you can move (information), I really like that aspect of that,” Wessels said. “But ultimately we’re going to fall into the same place and I am going to say it’s not worth the money.”

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