Budget committee asked to approve $1M bond for roadwork

PARIS — Work has begun on drafting a budget recommendation for the town.

Road expenses are taking center stage, as administrators struggle to address road issues while working under a directive from the board of selectmen to present a flat budget to town voters in June.

The current figures under consideration, which have been compiled by department heads and Town Manager Phil Tarr, are for "a little bit less than last year," said Tarr.

"Most departments have submitted a budget that is less than their budgets for the current year," Tarr told the budget committee in a written overview.

One big exception is the Fire Department, which added $130,000 in paid staff to cover workweek daytime hours, during which it has become difficult to find volunteers.

There have been some fiscal successes for the town.

"General insurance has remained stable," said Tarr. "Joining in with the school district to lock in heating and diesel fuel prices has also helped, and looking for more efficient ways of providing services is having an impact as well."

The tightened budget can be achieved, says Tarr, through a combination of measures.

"There is some reduced spending in the budget," he said. "Our revenues in some areas are up compared to the previous year. The third part of it, which is a real key element, is this bonding concept for the roads."

Tarr says that the budget can be kept flat, even as the town embarks on a costly effort to fix badly dilapidated streets, by taking a short-term municipal bond for $1 million.

The bond would be paid back over five years, with payments beginning at approximately $220,000 the first year and ending around $208,000 the fifth year.

Tarr says that the chief advantage of the program would be the ability to address the town's worst roads.

"Biggest thing is, it would give us a jump start on some very severe road problems," said Tarr. "We would be able to finish Oxford Street, which is in horrible shape."

Finishing Oxford Street would cost about $550,000, Tarr estimates.

"Then we would be able to select other roads and do some serious paving with the rest of the money," he said.

Maintaining roads is always one of the biggest expenses that a town faces.

"Roads are expensive to build and expensive to maintain," noted Tarr. Even annual expenditures of $275,000 don't allow Paris to make any headway against a backlog of wear and deterioration, he said.

Work on East Oxford Road has cost the town more than a million dollars over the last few years.

At that rate, the work on Oxford Street would soak up the available dollars well into the future.

"At the current rate of funding, no new road projects could be considered until the summer of 2015," said Tarr.

Another big expense for the town comes in the form of a new $180,000 dump truck, which would be equipped with a plow and a sander.

The purchase would be made in cash this year, when no payments would be due on the bond. The outright purchase of the truck, combined with the retirement of other debts, would mean that the capital road budget would be reduced by about $135,000, said Tarr.

Paris citizens will be able to vote on the budget during the upcoming town meeting, tentatively scheduled for June 11.