PARIS — In their initial budget discussion Monday night, selectmen asked Town Manager Amy Bernard to research what it would cost to run electricity and water, along with tree maintenance, in Moore Park.

Bernard previously asked selectmen to share which projects they’d like to include in the budget this year as part of Paris’ recently adopted Strategic Plan. The board agreed with the plan’s goal of beautifying the town, including continuing to spruce up Moore Park. Selectman Janet Jamison expressed concern about trees in the Route 26 park that needed pruning and others that were dead and could be chopped down.

She also pointed to the town’s lack of festivity when it comes to celebrating the holidays.

“Christmas, when you roll through Paris, you would never know it,” Jamison said, adding she’d like to run electricity in the park so a tree-lighting ceremony could be held.

Bernard said she already planned to discuss with the Recreation Committee how to get water in the park, noting there’s no longer a spigot there. There were plants that were landscaped last fall and the Fire Department had to bring its tanker over to water them.

Bernard said she would speak with the Recreation Committee next week and try to have research done on cost before the next selectmen’s meeting. She added there’s $8,000 set aside for this department, some of which could be used to fund such projects.

While Bernard told selectmen she wasn’t ready to give specific budget numbers just yet, the proposed budget is a net decrease of $46,000 from the current one. Even with increased expenses, there’s a decrease overall because of more revenue. She explained that the town had underprojected its excise tax for the upcoming fiscal year by more than $124,000 because its computer system wasn’t set up properly.

“We are asking the taxpayers through property taxes to raise less,” she said.

After the meeting, Town Clerk Liz Knox said the current budget totaled $7.1 million, with a tax rate of $17.90 per $1,000 of assessed value. In her budget handout, Bernard said it’s difficult to estimate the new mill rate because School Administrative District 17 won’t have its budget appropriations ready until late April or early May, and the town is finishing its revaluation with updated property values due in late April.

Other factors included in Bernard’s draft budget are changing townwide mowing from an outside job to an inside job, which will cost $2,000 initially in equipment but should be even after, and extending Fire Department shifts from 11 to 12 hours, which totals roughly $18,000. She proposed allocating $1,000 for stencils for painting Main Street and other streets as part of the Strategic Plan. The budget also proposed 3 percent raises for town employees and the required 2 percent contractual raise for the Police Department.

Two major projects the board and town administration continue to work on as part of the Strategic Plan are reacquiring the Paris Utility District building and land on Paris Hill Road and the Mildred M. Fox School on East Main Street. Bernard said her budget plan includes setting aside $10,000 in the capital reserve for Fox School maintenance, which could cover equipment breaking down.

“We’re going to need money set aside for that building regardless,” she said. “It would not be financially prudent of us to take the building and not have some type of capital set aside.”

The budget process continues at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, when the Budget Committee meets at the Town Office at 33 Market Square.

[email protected]