PARIS — Selectmen scheduled a special town meeting next month to determine whether residents will appropriate the use of funds for two projects.

The board voted Monday to set up a meeting for Dec. 3. Interim Town Manager Michael Thorne recommended that $225,000 be put toward a revaluation of town properties, and that other funds be used to repair the Fire Department's tanker truck.

Tax assessor John Brushwein said in September that he is independently working on a revaluation, which he estimated he would complete by 2013. Brushwein also said that the process could be completed within a year if it is contracted to an outside company, and estimated that it would cost $225,000 to do so.

Thorne estimated that $750,000 was available in the town's undesignated fund at the end of the town's 2009 fiscal year in July. He said this amount is low for a town the size of Paris, but that the revaluation was "imperative."

"You have got to pay that $225,000 back," Thorne said, "which means you carry an overlay in next year's tax commitment a minimum of the $225,000. And then a year from then you'll be back to where you started from."

Former assessor Kevin McGillicuddy completed a revaluation in 2007 that raised the town's value by one-third, or $83 million. He resigned amid complaints by several residents that the changes resulted in steep increases to their property taxes.

Brushwein previously said that he is working to correct errors in the assessments, including high land assessments, low building assessments, and discrepancies between hard copy records and computer records.

Selectmen voted 4-1 to approve sending the matter to a vote at a special town meeting. Selectman Raymond Glover opposed the vote, saying he thought the process should be done over a number of years. Glover said a speedy revaluation would increase the tax rate significantly.

"I just have a problem with doing this all at once," Glover said.

Selectman Troy Ripley said the town would be able to save $15,000 to $25,000 if it makes a commitment to a revaluation in December.

The board unanimously voted to send the question of whether voters will approve funding to repair the Fire Department's tanker truck to the same meeting. Thorne said the town has $130,813 available in a general fund as a result of an insurance settlement following the collapse of the former fire station on Pine Street in March of 2008.

Chief Brad Frost of the Paris Fire Department previously said that the tanker is out of commission after springing a leak, and that it will cost approximately $24,000 to $30,000 to replace the tank and repair the truck's chassis.

The department has about $8,000 available from a matching grant fund and the sale of the damaged tank for scrap. Thorne recommended that the remaining costs for the repair come from the $130,813 account.

mlangeveld@sunjournal.com