PARIS – Voters will decide at Saturday’s town meeting whether to turn over the old fire station in Market Square to the Police Department.

They will also be asked if they want the town to develop a plan for bottling water from the public water supply and selling it.

The meeting begins at 10 a.m. in the Paris Fire Station on Western Avenue.

The $2.69 million municipal budget request that voters will consider reflects a 6.6 percent increase over last year, due to increases in workers’ compensation costs, electric and fuel costs for the new fire station, and the addition of a full-time assessor’s position.

Town Manager Steve McAlister said that after years of holding the line on municipal spending, “we just can’t do it anymore. We have needs.” School and county spending account for 68 percent of the total budget of $5.12 million, he said.

The budget comes after a yearlong revaluation of property in town. As a result of the revaluation – the first in more than 10 years – the town’s valuation has jumped more than 50 percent, from $143 million to $217 million.

Taxpayers will see their new valuations in tax bills that will be sent in early August.

McAlister said the tax rate will decrease from $22.73 per $1,000 of valuation to $16.37. For a homeowner with property assessed last year at $100,000, and whose new valuation is $130,000, and taxes would drop $145, from $2,273 to $2,128.

However, McAlister said many properties in town have been grossly undervalued for years, and will see their assessments double or triple under the revaluation.

Having a full-time assessor on board will allow the town to do regular updates to maintain valuations at or near current market value, he said.

The proposal for the Police Department to use the old fire station comes a year after voters decided not to sell the building but study ways to use it.

The warrant article asks voters for borrow up to $70,000 to cover renovation costs.

McAlister said the Police Department was the only town agency that expressed an interest in the building. A citizens group developed a plan that would renovate the Pine Street floor space for use as the police station, with the Main Street bay floor reserved for cruiser parking and for evidence and record storage.

“It’s perfect for the Police Department,” McAlister said, and will save the town money by keeping police cruisers under cover in winter.

The Pine Street floor would include a training room, administrative offices and a kitchen for the staff of seven full-time officers, one part-time officer and an administrative assistant.

The police station on Church Street would provide space for other town functions, such as assessing and parks and recreation, as well as storage for town records.

McAlister said the idea for selling bottled water from the public water supply emerged several years ago when Poland Spring Water Co. was beginning its search for a new spring.

Paris water, which comes from the Little Androscoggin River aquifer, has consistently scored high on state taste tests.

The town approached Poland Spring, which ultimately chose to look elsewhere, McAlister said. “So we said, why can’t we do it ourselves” by creating a public/private partnership.

The Paris Utility District has a 1.5 million gallon daily pumping capacity, and currently uses about 400,000 gallons a day, McAlister said.

“We know that we need to do more than ordinary, everyday things in order to effect property tax relief,” he said.

[email protected]