PARIS — Townspeople approved a $3.4 million budget recommended by selectmen Saturday, with one small addition.

Following a presentation by a group of local Brownies, voters agreed to take $2,857 from the subdivision/recreation assessment fund and put it toward a safety fence for the playground at Moore Park.

“Several of the girls have seen smaller children run toward the Route 26 side,” troop leader Bobbi Hodgdon said.

The Brownies asked to add the $2,857 to the Parks and Recreation budget. Hodgdon said Girl Scouts rules wouldn’t allow them to hold a fundraiser for an outside cause, such as the fence.

Police Chief David Verrier offered to run a fundraiser with the parks department, when there was resistance to raising the town’s budget.

It was suggested to take the money from a fund that wouldn’t affect taxes. Residents approved that motion.

The main debate of the morning was in the Police Department budget, which was approved without a 3 percent raise in police officers’ contracts.

The move drew the ire of some officers and other residents in attendance. According to Selectman Ted Kurtz, no town employee was getting a raise. Kurtz said that the town, anticipating budget troubles, negotiated a contract provision in which raises depended on approval by town meeting voters.

Several residents felt that not including an amount that kept police officers’ raises on the warrant was in poor judgment. Several members of the Budget Committee said the issue of police officers’ contracts was not raised at meetings, but Town Manager Phil Tarr said he specifically recalled discussing the issue with the committee.

An amendment to add $9,530.22, the amount necessary to give police a 3 percent raise, failed. Voters approved the $480,434 Police Department budget recommended by selectmen and the Budget Committee.

About 50 residents attended the Saturday morning meeting at the Paris Fire Station.

The meeting began with a prayer led by the Rev. Anne Stanley of the Christ Episcopal Church and a send-off to the two selectmen who retired this year.

Residents cheered for Lloyd “Skip” Herrick, the former Paris police chief and Oxford County sheriff, as well as Chairman Raymond Glover, who served 18 years on the board.

The meeting ended with the swearing-in of the two selectmen elected Tuesday. Ryan Lorrain, 23, is the youngest selectman in the town’s history, Town Clerk Elizabeth Knox said. Robert Kirchherr, formerly the chairman of the Planning Board and a retired educator, was also elected.

The new Board of Selectmen will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, June 27, at the Town Office.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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