West Paris selectmen approve budget for town meeting

WEST PARIS — The West Paris Board of Selectmen agree with the budget committee in recommending that the town raise and appropriate roughly $1,000,000 for the upcoming fiscal year's budget.

Its proposals are contained in 38 articles and will be voted on by West Paris residents at a town meeting on Saturday, March 5. The suggested budget is in line with those brought to town meeting in previous years, with the board's recommendations totalling roughly $40,000 less than 2010/11 and $30,000 more than 2009/10.

Recommended expenditures range from $500 for maintenance of a veterans' monument to $305,000 for the Highway Department to maintain its garage and equipment, as well as the town's roads.

The board and the budget committee both found ways to trim the expenditures Town Manager John White proposed.

White originally suggested a $100,000 allocation to the town's capital equipment fund, which currently contains only $12,800. The investment would have provided for the purchase of a new dump truck to replace a 1994 model currently in use, as well as augmented the fund for the sake of guarding against repercussions from failing equipment.

Selectmen opted to augment the fund by $75,000, but saved $25,000 by deferring the purchase of a new truck by at least one more year. According to White, the town generally aims to replace equipment like this every six years, but the current dump truck has not given the town any problems. As such, it is not a pressing need at the moment, but will most likely need to be dealt with at some point in the future.

"It doesn't have any problems," says White, "but it's getting closer to the time when we could start to see issues."

The board and budget committee also trimmed about $15,000 from an allotment to the Highway Capital Reserve. That money would have offset costs that the town will incur by having a mile of Tuelltown Road paved.  As of the end of last year, the reserve fund, which is held by the town in order to deal with issues related to road care and reconstruction, contained $297,000.  The project on Tuelltown Road is estimated to cost $137,000. White had proposed to raise $50,000 in order to offset the cost, but the selectmen and the budget committee opted to recommend only $35,000.

According to White, a condition survey conducted by the town revealed that this stretch was the most critical need in town. He was comfortable with the new recommendations, as the town's Highway Capital Reserve contained more than sufficient funds to cover the work while maintaining a healthy balance.

Finally, the town was able to save another $1,500 that would have gone to installing new bleachers for the baseball field at Mann Sports Complex. Bleachers will be relocated from Derby Hill in another part of town where they have been deemed surplus to requirements.