PARIS — The Paris Board of Selectmen learned Monday evening that the third time’s a charm.

It took three votes for members to agree on what to do about a citizens’ petition looking to cap the town’s tax rate. The third motion, which passed unanimously, requires the select board, Budget Committee, Town Manager Amy Bernard and department heads to carve half a million dollars from the current budget to see what those cuts would look like. Most of the audience, made up of about 60 people, got up and left during the third vote. 

Resident and business owner Scott Buffington handed in his petition with nearly 400 signatures at the selectmen’s meeting two weeks ago. The document would require approval from 50 percent of registered voters before the town could exceed Maine Revenue Services’ reported State Weighted Average Mill Rate beginning with the July 2016 budget.

Bernard provided background to selectmen and sent the petition to the town attorney for legal review.

“His opinion is the question asked in the petition is an ultra vires request; this means it is beyond the power of the voters to do what is being asked in the petition,” she wrote.

Selectmen have two options — the first is to hold open town meetings to hear from people what services they can live without, and the second is to move the petition to vote with an advisory message stating it’s a recommended, or advisory, opinion only, according to Bernard.

Selectman Mike Risica’s motion to put the petition as a referendum on the ballot with an advisory note failed after he and Selectman Janet Jamison cast the only two yes votes. Selectman Sam Elliot’s motion to bring the petition to town meeting failed when only he and Selectmen Chairman Robert Wessels voted in favor.

The most recent state weighted average tax rate of $14.49 per $1,000 of assessed value is from 2013. Currently, the town’s rate is $18.30, which had increased by 40 cents after the recent re-evaluation. Selectmen estimated capping the tax rate to the state average would require a cut between $1.2 million and $1.5 million in the municipal budget.

Before Monday’s meeting, Bernard asked department heads to sketch out what their department would look like under the reduction numbers suggested by Selectman Vic Hodgkins. If the administration budget were reduced by $200,000 — a 44 percent cut — the Town Office would only be open 20 hours per week for two 10-hour days consecutively, Bernard wrote. It would include laying off one deputy clerk and reduce hours for the code enforcement officer, bookkeeper and town manager.

Under this scenario, the town could no longer register motor vehicles, including cars, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles or boats — which means residents would do it online or visit a Bureau of Motor Vehicles office — and the office would no longer sell hunting or fishing licenses.

“If you asked me, I would want my taxes lowered, too, but I still want those services in some way,” Bernard said. “This isn’t just a cut to my staff; it’s a cut to all of us.”

Many residents in the audience strongly disagreed. 

“You’re going to hear doom and gloom and Armageddon and the world will stop moving if we cut one red cent from this damn budget,” resident Forrie Everett said during open session.

He conceded that cuts will hurt everybody, but if it’s done in a reasonable manner without scare tactics, it won’t hurt as much. He received the loudest round of applause during the meeting.

Business owner Dennis Creaser agreed town administration was “spelling out Armageddon” as a result of cuts from the petition.

“If it’s not valid, then why bother?” he said. “You guys wasted a lot of time that we pay for,” he added about looking at potential cuts under the invalid petition.

Bernard said she wasn’t predicting Armageddon, but thought it responsible to show residents what those cuts could look like. Elliot disagreed with the notion of scare tactics, noting that cutting more than $1 million from a roughly $4 million budget will cause significant cuts in services.

“You can’t just casually dismiss that as scare tactics,” he said. “Those are facts. It’s your town, it’s my town, it’s our town. We can have whatever budget we want. Let’s make sure what we want is what we really want.”

Elliot and Wessels both agreed taxes should be lowered.

“My intent is to not cut $1 million-plus from the budget,” Wessels said. “I don’t think it’s a responsible way to do that. My intent is to make a reasonable but responsible … and sizable cut from the budget.”

A meeting will be held later next month to go over the budget that’s been reduced by a half a million dollars, at a time yet to be determined.

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