Gray residents overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to hire a contract deputy from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department at the May 2 town meeting, citing the town’s tight budget and low crime rate.

The 75 or so residents approved, with one minor change, the $5.6 million budget put forth by the Town Council. The spending plan, which was criticized by a handful of voters, for utilizing reserve funds excessively, will now be placed on the June 9 ballot for ratification at the polls.

The hiring of a contract deputy has been the subject of a lengthy debate, one which resurfaced last summer when officials from the Sheriff’s Office and Maine State Police told the council that the large number of calls from Gray was stretching thin law enforcement in the region. Councilors agreed to ask residents at town meeting if they wanted to hire a deputy for 40 hours a week at a cost of $144,548, which voters ultimately found to be too high a price for what was seen as a luxury.

“The need for extra law enforcement just doesn’t seem to be there, especially in these economic times,” said Sam Pfiefle, a resident who spoke at Saturday’s meeting, held at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School.

Another resident, Steve Bunker, said he regularly sees police vehicles in town, a situation that does not support the claim that there are not enough regional police officers to go around.

“We’ve got lots of police around,” said Bunker. “Gray is not a den of crime. I don’t think we are at the point where we need our own police.”

Councilor Tracy Scheckel argued that the contract deputy should be approved, if only to allow the larger number of voters who will go to the polls June 9 to weigh in on the matter. Cathy Manchester, a candidate for Town Council, said the town should focus on providing educational and employment help to the 20 percent of the population that accounts for 80 percent of calls to police.

“That is where we should be heading, rather than putting on a Band Aid,” she said.

The one change enacted to the budget at the meeting came during an article asking for $115,000 for a culvert replacement and road reconstruction at McConkey Road, a late addition to the budget that became necessary when a pipe broke in the area late last month. Town Manager Deborah Cabana recommended, and the Council approved, using $80,000 from a capital reserve account created for bridge repair and $35,000 from the undesignated fund balance.

Resident Andy Upham, who along with a few other residents argued throughout the meeting that it was not prudent to use reserve funds at the level in the proposed budget, questioned why the $35,000 was not taken out of a tax increment financing program created for projects in that area. He proposed an amendment to that effect, and it was successful.

Though the budget articles passed by large margins, the debate over the use of reserve funds continued throughout the meeting, fueled by a handful of residents. Cabana said the fund now has $3.2 million, which is around $975,000 over what town policy requires. About half of the excess funds were set aside for use in next year’s budget, leaving plenty in case of an emergency, she said.

But Upham and others, including Pfiefle, argued that the town is using the reserve funds to falsely prop up the budget. When those funds are no longer available, residents will be hit with a “whiplash” of taxes, Upham argued. Later, he said the town was abandoning its traditional planning process by spending rather than investing in capital reserves.

“Our appetite here exceeds our ability to put food on the table,” Upham said.

A few residents also argued against using tax increment financing money as a match to a Community Develop Block Grant for a project to renovate the Clark Block in Gray Village. Residents James Monroe and Patricia Watson said town officials had not done enough to involve residents in the planning process for the project, which will widen and improve the sidewalk and place utilities underground. Town officials hope the project will encourage more improvements in the future, and ultimately bring business to town.

But another resident, Anne Gass, said the fund was set up to improve the area, and should be used in that way, just as Bridgton did to re-imagine their downtown.

“That’s a lovely Main Street area now. That really happened because of the investment of the CDBG program, in large part,” she said.