PARIS – A proposal to increase the town’s fire department budget by $60,000 fell short Saturday at town meeting.

Resident Rick Jackson proposed that the money be added to the department’s budget after pointing out that the town has a full-time code enforcement officer, tax assessor and police department.

“The one thing we don’t have here is a full-time fire chief,” he said.

He said a full-time fire chief could help improve recruiting and training at the department. Volunteer fire departments in Oxford County have held meetings recently to discuss how to improve daytime coverage and volunteer retention, among other things.

The budget for the fire department recommended by selectmen and the Budget Committee stood at $202,575, a 1.83 percent increase over last year. The town’s proposed $3.2 million budget showed a $60,332 decrease in municipal expenses from last year, and included the elimination of two part-time jobs and three reserve officer positions in the Paris Police Department.

Town Manager Sharon Jackson said adding a full-time fire chief would increase the town’s tax rate and require voters to approve going over the property-tax limit. Rick Jackson’s amendment was defeated, and the original article passed.

No changes were made to the proposed budget during the one-and-a-half-hour meeting, although an amendment to increase the police budget by $700 in anticipation of heating costs was defeated. Some residents noted that the projected prices for fuel, set at $2.75 per gallon for gasoline and $3.75 for diesel, were below existing prices.

Sharon Jackson said the amounts were taken from prices at the time of the Budget Committee deliberations, and overdrafts could be covered using funds from the $400,000 surplus account.

“We had no idea we’d be looking at the prices we have right now,” said Jackson.

Voters also waived foreclosure of the former A.C. Lawrence Leather Co. on Oxford Street. Resident David Andrews asked why the town shouldn’t foreclose on the property and sell it, since the federal Environmental Protection Agency completed a $4 million cleanup at the site last year.

Sharon Jackson said the town would be liable if any future problems arose at the site.

“The EPA will not give a 100 percent guarantee that there will not be problems there,” said Jackson.

She added that the EPA would want the town to reimburse it for the cleanup and could put federal liens into effect. Ernest Fitts III, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said some of the chromium contaminants remained at the site.

Town Clerk Elizabeth Larson, who is retiring after 30 years on June 30, received a standing ovation after speaking at the beginning of the meeting.

“I’ve enjoyed my 30 years working for you folks. It went very quickly,” said Larson. “I think I’ll miss it very much.”

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