PARIS — A warrant for annual town meeting was signed by selectmen during their meeting Tuesday.
Voters will gather June 15 to vote on 27 articles, including a $4.1 million municipal budget that includes some revenues but not municipal revenue sharing from the state.
Town Manager Amy Bernard told the board that two articles had been added to the warrant since the board approved it on May 13.
Article 31 recommends using about $910,000 in revenues to offset property taxes.
The article was not adding any money into the budget, Bernard explained — it simply authorized the use of additional revenues, like excise tax, fees and state aid, to pay down expenses and reduce the amount of property taxes needed.
That authorization was a standard article to include on a town meeting warrant, Bernard noted.
The $910,000 does not include municipal revenue sharing the town might receive from the state, Bernard told the board.
Towns have been worried about losing revenue from the state ever since Gov. Paul LePage proposed a biennial state budget in January that stripped municipal revenue sharing.
Most towns were budgeting on the assumption of a worst-case scenario and were not including municipal revenue sharing in their budgets, Bernard said.
If the town did wind up receiving revenue sharing, it would be automatically put toward reducing the tax commitment, she said.
Without municipal revenue sharing, the town was expecting a 3.4 or 3.5 mill rate increase, Bernard said. With revenue sharing, she said, the mill rate would see an increase of 2.5. She said 0.75 of the addition comes from the increase in the SAD 17 budget.
She told the board there was no clear indication when the state’s budget would be finalized.
Article 14 asks voters to approve carrying over unspent funds from the parks and recreation and conservation committee into the next year.
Normally, unspent funding would lapse into fund balance, Bernard said. Carryover would keep money in dedicated accounts, allowing the two departments to use it for future projects.
Town meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 15, at the Paris Fire Station.
Voters also will go to the polls June 11 to vote on whether to contract with the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office for police services. Additionally, voters will also choose two selectmen, a member of the SAD 17 Board of Directors and a trustee for the Paris Utility District.
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