PARIS — With tax increases almost a certainty this year, the Budget Committee is looking for budget cuts wherever it can find them to minimize the pain for taxpayers.

However, 5 percent increases from the county and the school district as well as a planned $250,000 increase in capital improvements to repair town roads mean that won’t be easy.

“I’m trying to keep my eye on the ball. And the ball is the mill rate,” Chairman Vic Hodgkins said at the beginning of the Budget Committee meeting Thursday.

Several committee members had harsh words for the budget Town Manager Phil Tarr submitted, which would increase the mill rate about $2, about $300 for a $150,000 property.

“I would be ashamed to take this budget to Town Meeting,” Hodgkins said.

“The increase on the mill rate would be atrocious,” Budget Committee member Barbara Payne said. “There’s already people who can’t pay their taxes.”

Payne said raising property taxes higher than surrounding towns could make property in Paris harder to sell and discourage new businesses from moving in.

For some committee members, the question was how much taxes would increase. Peter Kilgore said he thought the mill rate shouldn’t rise by more than $1. Hodgkins estimated that county and school district increases would bring the rate up 30 cents, giving the committee about 70 cents to work with using Kilgore’s standard.

Health insurance for police and other town employees came under fire. In Paris, employees get 100 percent coverage, and their family members get 80 percent, Tarr said. Hodgkins said the coverage was far above what most people receive, and getting rid of 100 percent coverage is “one of the easier decisions to make.”

Selectmen Ted Kurtz, Jean Smart and Kenneth West were present at the meeting. Smart and West agreed that after flat-lining the budget last year, some increase was inevitable.

Kurtz urged the committee to look into a bond package to fix the roads so they could be repaired at 2012 prices. He said the interest on a 10-year bond would likely cost less than the increase in paving materials.

Committee member Janet Jamison disagreed, saying a bond would tie the town’s hands for 10 years.

When Paris Police Chief David Verrier went over the budget, committee members asked him about the necessity of several items, including new paint for the interior of the station, new bulletproof vests and a new door for the station.

Verrier hinted that he and Norway Police Chief Robert Federico had been discussing ways for the departments to save money together and increase efficiency, but said he didn’t want to discuss specifics before first speaking to the Board of Selectmen.

The Budget Committee meets Thursday nights at 7 p.m. The committee is set to deliberate on the budget and possibly vote April 12. After the committee approves a budget, it will go to the town meeting in June for Paris residents to vote.

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