Paris board asks for 'responsible budget'

PARIS —   The Paris town office will develop a responsible budget for the coming year in order to have a baseline from which to consider possible cuts.

Selectmen discussed the budget process during their meeting Monday.

According to a background memo delivered to selectmen by Town Manager Amy Bernard before the meeting, the police and highway departments were under budgeted by 20 percent and the administrative budget by 8 percent in this year's budget.

Developing a responsible budget for the coming year means addressing those gaps as well as including additional expenses for 2013-2014.

The resulting budget will undoubtedly be more expensive, but with Paris' current financial situation and probable cuts in revenue, it may not be realistic.

Two weeks ago, Bernard informed the board that, due to poor financial management, the town could be operating in the red by March.

During Monday's meeting, Bernard reported the financial outlook was brighter, but the town could still be considering whether it could pay its school or electricty bills before May.

"That's not how you run government responsibly," Bernard said.

The town's own fiscal quandry is compounded by possible revenue cuts included in Governor Paul LePage's biennial 2014-2015 budget.

Suspension of revenue sharing, limits on property and business tax exemptions and taking a portion of the town's excise tax, all proposed by LePage, could cost Paris around $457,000 next year.

The town's skeleton budget doesn't leave too much room for trimming, Bernard warned.

"You are talking about cutting services from the very first $10,000 you cut," she told board members, "and that is going to affect citizens."

Those cuts could be anything from reduced snowplowing to no longer having 24-hour police coverage. The cuts also put the town's road improvement project at risk, Bernard said. 

With around seven weeks on the job, however, Bernard said she was uncomfortable suggesting cuts until she had a better sense of the budget.

Board members agreed developing a responsible budget was the best course of action, but also asked Bernard to prepare recommendations for cuts in the upcoming year.

"The current budget is probably not responsible," said Board Chair Sam Elliot. "If we've already cut it [the budget] to the bone and underfunded it, we need to know what we've done."

Vice Chair Bob Kirchherr stressed state budget negotiations were in very early stages and a final budget, perhaps sometime in May, could look very different.

At the same time, citizens should probably brace for some cuts or tax increases, Selectman Ryan Lorrain cautioned.