PARIS — The majority at Saturday’s town meeting did the opposite of what their counterparts in other Maine towns usually do: They increased amounts to be raised by taxpayers on two articles.

Voters were asked to approve a $4.09 million municipal budget when the meeting began at 10 a.m. By about 12:15 p.m. when action on the 30-article warrant was adjourned, they had added $85,241 and approved a $4.17 million municipal budget.

Voters approved adding $3,500 to the streetlights account because they believed selectmen were going to shut off nearly two dozen of the town’s 307 streetlights.

One resident openly praised Peter L. McGuire for writing an article published in Thursday’s Advertiser-Democrat, alerting town meeting voters that spending cuts proposed by town officials would remove 21 streetlights.

She said that half the lights being considered for removal are on two roads, with 11 of those lights along Paris Hill Road. She wanted to know why selectmen were considering to hit an area “particularly hard.”

“Nothing is cast in stone,” Town Manager Amy L. Bernard said. “The select board has not even made a motion to remove these lights.”

“What we’re doing is we’re not appropriating that $3,500,” Selectman Robert Kirchherr said. “We’re not allocating enough money to pay for some 307 lights.”

When the woman asked Kirchherr which lights they intended not to fund, he said they had a list prepared by police safety officials based on their recommendations.

“Before that list is finalized, I’m sure there will be a public hearing,” Kirchherr said. “I don’t know when and in what format, but we have a preliminary list now. But that’s not the final list.”

Another article asked what amount voters wanted to raise and appropriate for capital expenditures. Selectmen recommended $654,625; the Budget Committee, $627,777.

A businessman named Bob who refused to give his last name, then motioned to go with the selectmen’s recommendation, but to add “whatever it takes” to bring the road reconstruction account up to $525,000.

After some calculator work, that figure was given as $81,741, which was added to the selectmen’s recommendation of $443,279 for that account, amending it to $525,000.

A motion was then made to raise and appropriate $736,346 for capital expenditures. It was approved 33-22.

The rest of the budget was approved without any changes, although the article to fund solid waste disposal and recycling was amended to not exceed $278,286. It was amended because one resident said Norway funded its share of that last year by $10,000 less while Paris paid more. Voters didn’t want that to happen again.

Afterward, Board of Selectmen Chairman Samuel Elliot said the majority wanted to increase funding for road work because past town meeting participants had voted to under-fund that account.

“So, we’re playing catch-up,” he said. “So, it was cute to save some money in the past, but it’s now come back to bite us. People complained about the roads, but that’s what they voted for — bad roads.”

He said selectmen were in the process of “getting on top of it.”

“We’ve got a good road plan,” Elliot said. “We’ll put some money into it and we’ll catch up.”

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