PARIS – A Monday evening community forum hosted by the Select Board brought to the fore how interconnected the town’s challenges are.
The forum, moderated by Selectman Stephen Cronce, contained three agenda items: the Paris Police Department, Market Square improvement project and tax revaluations and bills.
The Paris PD has been under fire for much of this year, with townspeople objecting to a restructuring of its personnel, to the point of scuttling hundreds of thousands of dollars from its proposed budget during annual town meeting last June.
Citizens and municipal officials have separately engaged with other agencies, Oxford County Sheriff’s Office and the Oxford Police Department, about contracting for law enforcement and disbanding Paris’ department.
Proposals to do away with the PPD have made it to a referendum ballot question four times over the last several years and have been defeated each time.
Those who spoke overwhelmingly professed support for the PD as well as its force. But opinions diverged on how to move forward. When Cronce asked for input on defining one of the biggest benefits of a dedicated department – local control – replies varied. Some comments relating personal experiences of receiving aid from PPD were dismissed as emotional.
Some residents said that some positions – detective for example – are not necessary when neighboring departments and OSCO have them on staff.
Robert Jewell said before Paris considers outsourcing, the PD needs to be torn apart and put back together in a way that makes it more efficient.
As he spoke about analyzing economies of scale he asked, “we hear, over and over again, that we have a huge problem at night. But how many night arrests do we have? What are those arrests? Because quite frankly, from information I’ve seen we don’t have any. That’s what I’m hearing.”
Paris Patrolman James Labbe immediately shot down Jewell’s statement, pointing out that on Thanksgiving night alone the police department made three arrests and responded to three fires.
Several people pointed out that in order for the town to grow economically and welcome new businesses and residents it needs a strong police force, not contracted service from other agencies.
When discussion turned to the topic of Market Square Ron Ramsey reminded residents that so far the Maine Department of Transportation has spent $150,000 researching a traffic solution for the three-way intersection and has not landed on one yet.
Jewell said that MDOT and Maine School Administrative District 17 have not consulted with each other on how a new middle school will affect traffic coming into the square from Pine Street, a claim that School Board Director and Chairman Troy Ripley asserted was incorrect.
Among the proposed changes to the traffic congestion around and leading into Market Square were adding two rotaries – one at the square and one at the Big Apple convenience store – and changing the pattern on Pine Street and others to one-way.
Where everyone agreed was a statement that with Route 26 being a state highway it should be up to MDOT to resolve traffic problems and fund the solution.
When talk turned to the topic of understanding tax revaluations and tax bills, even agreeing on what Paris collects property taxes for was too much. A number of people said the majority of property tax revenue is allocated to SAD 17.
Town Manager Natalie Andrews clarified with the correct ratios: 54% is for town services and operations, 40% goes to the school district and 6% goes to Oxford County.
Several spoke to say that with SAD 17 maintaining three schools and its central office in Paris (and an option to buy the old Bessey Motors on Main Street), the town has an unfair financial burden through loss of property taxes.
Jewell went so far as to say he hopes Paris’ planning board finds a way to strike the new Oxford Hills Middle School construction project on Pine Street from passing its review, although later in the meeting he backtracked that it likely could not play out in such a way.
Jewell, Ripley and newly elected Selectman Scott Buffington – all of whom have served on the Oxford Hills school board – all offered different explanations on how the Maine Department of Education calculates its subsidies and the school district’s local shares.
Where Jewell said that out-of-district students enrolled in SAD 17 pay $10,000 for tuition but cost the district $16,000, Ripley said the district is not out $6,000 because it does not pay out-of-pocket for those students; it uses resources it has already paid anyway.
Ripley reminded the group state subsidies, called Essential Programs and Services (EPS) are provided to Oxford Hills because of its socio-economic needs and more affluent communities get none.
He also used transportation costs as an example of EPS not being appropriate for SAD 17’s needs. Oxford Hills currently spends $4.1 million in transportation expenses, $2.9 million of which was covered by the state.
But SAD 17 has the largest geographic route in the state. It also operates student transportation so that very young children are not sharing bus rides with older teenagers, factors that are beyond EPS formulas and average criteria.
The meeting broke after about two hours with no initiative agreements but a desire to continue discussion and work for the betterment of the town.
