PARIS – Voters turned down a plan to move police operations to the old fire station, but agreed to investigate bottling the public water supply, at Saturday’s town meeting in Paris.

The 86 residents gathered at the Paris Fire Station also passed a $2.69 million municipal budget, which represents a 6.6 percent increase from last year.

A close vote of 26-36 defeated the recommendation to borrow $70,000 to renovate the old fire station at Market Square for police department use. Selectmen and the Budget Committee favored the plan recommended by the Old Fire Station Committee, which had studied possible uses for the building.

The move would have provided garaging space for police cruisers and storage space for evidence. It also would have enabled town office operations to expand into the current police station.

Paris Police Sgt. Hartlett “Skip” Mowatt was among the majority opposing the move. He repeatedly referred to the old fire station as a “white elephant” that would incur more costs in the future. “The current police station is more than adequate,” he said. If more space were needed at the town office, he said, the conference rooms could be used, since the town now has a large meeting room in the new fire station.

When the current police station was built about six years ago, there were plans to add a garage for cruisers, Mowatt said.

But Town Manager Steve McAlister said it was later determined that setback requirements would not be met on the lot if a garage were built there.

Also failing was an amended motion to use surplus funds instead of bonding to pay for the renovations to the old fire station.

After the meeting, McAlister said a special town meeting will be needed in the coming months to budget for insurance, heating and electricity at the old fire station until other options for the property can be developed for voter approval.

Local building contractor Mark Bancroft of Bancroft Contracting led the call to have the town develop a plan for the town to bottle, sell and distribute bottled water from the municipal public water supply.

Bancroft said his company stands to benefit, since it has helped in the construction of water bottling plants. But the plan also would help the local economy and taxpayers, he said.

“This is a big thing,” he said. Paris’ water, which is untreated, has earned state recognition in taste tests, and the Paris Utility District has plenty of excess capacity to take on the task, McAlister has said.

Later, Barb Olson of Enterprise Maine, told Paris residents, “Your water is a great asset, and we need to build on it.”

The town will use in-house resources to create the plan, including start-up costs and a marketing analysis. The town would be involved either solely or in a public/private partnership in the water-bottling operation.

On the budget, McAlister said revenues were lower this year than last because $98,000 less is being taken from surplus. The current surplus balance is $800,000, and selectmen would like to see that account build back up to the $1 million recommended for town surplus accounts.

Because of the townwide valuation nearing completion, the mill rate will drop under the budget from its current rate of $22.73 per $1,000 to $16.50 per $1,000. Increases in this year’s budget are the result of increased costs of health care and fire department operation, as well as the addition of a full-time assessor.