PARIS — According to a straw poll of residents who voted in the annual town elections last week, many would be open to sharing services with Norway to save money. A majority even favored consolidating the towns in the future.

In a multiple choice poll, 44 voted to continue the present level of informal cooperation, such as buying road salt together. Forty-five voted to “adopt formal policies requiring specific areas of cooperation.” The third option, “Combine certain departments and services,” received 126 votes.

In a second question, residents voted “yes” to the question “Should the towns of Paris and Norway Consolidate?” The tally was 133-86.

The question continued, “This far-reaching concept may be in our future. Should your town officials begin a conversation now along this line?”

Selectman Ted Kurtz, who helped write the straw poll questions, said Paris residents were “in step” with the economic climate.

“We have a 19th century form of government trying to solve 21st century problems,” he said Monday.

He said economic problems at a federal and state level have made the need to save money more urgent. “This whole economic malaise is coming straight at us, head on,” Kurtz said. “People sense that.”

Newly-elected Selectman Robert Kirchherr moderated over a joint Norway-Paris meeting on the topic in April.

At that meeting, the towns agreed to set up a committee that would study potential cost savings in more joint purchasing and even combining services. Kirchherr said the process will require studying potential savings before any decisions are made.

“This is not something that’s going to happen next week or next month,” he said.

Kirchherr said that while combining police departments or fire departments would save money, the towns didn’t intend to fire town employees.

Kirchherr pointed to consolidation of schools. While they met some resistance, larger consolidated high schools have advantages like advanced machine shops and Advanced Placement courses that many smaller high schools can’t afford.

Norway Town Manager David Holt said loss of revenues from the state have made consolidation efforts more attractive. “We have to save every nickel we can.

He said the idea of combining services wouldn’t have been as popular in past years. “This is not anywhere near as unusual as it used to be,” Holt said.

Kirchherr agreed. He said in recent decades, separate town identities have slowly dissolved and people have become more likely to describe themselves as living in the Oxford Hills.

According to Kirchherr, the decision on whether to proceed will be determined in the fall when a study on potential cost savings is finished. “If it doesn’t turn out to save money, there’s no reason to do it,” he said.

The question went to Norway residents at the town meeting on Monday. Holt said Norway residents will have the option of answering the questions at the meeting or contacting the Norway Town Office later this week with their opinions.

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