The Scarborough Town Council Finance Committee has forwarded a $37.2 million town and school budget to the Town Council for its approval. If passed as presented, the budget would increase the tax rate by 42 cents to $17.76 per thousand dollars of assessed value.

The council will hold two readings and a public hearing on the budget before approving it.

The finance committee did not make any adjustments to town spending during its meeting on April 14, but did reduce the school budget by $450,000 as was recommended by Town Manager Ron Owens.

School officials sent out an e-mail this week, asking parents to speak out at the public hearing on Wednesday, April 27, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. The e-mail told parents the council’s finance committee had “voted to reduce the School Department budget by $450,000,” when in fact the school budget’s increase was made smaller, and is now proposed to go up $1.5 million, or 6 percent.

The committee passed the school’s capital budget of $1.6 million without any changes. It passed the town’s capital request of $8.8 million. Chairman Shawn Babine said the committee passed the budgets without changes to allow town councilors the chance to make changes they see fit.

Prior to the decision, Owens told the committee that he has requested three changes in the municipal capital budget.

The first change was for the Eastern Trail allotment. The capital budget initially called for a $135,000 expenditure to bring the trail from Pine Point Road to the Old Orchard Beach line. But Owens has requested to push that project back and instead work on the trail around the Hillcrest Retirement Community, which will cost $275,000.

That project was initially scheduled for 2008, but with some work now occurring on the property, town officials though it made sense to do the trail work simultaneously. Theresa Desfosses, owner of Hillcrest Retirement Community, has agreed to give the town $60,000 toward this project as part of the contract zone approval that allowed for the community’s expansion.

Also included in the budget is $4.9 million for the library expansion, which is an increase of about $3 million from what was previously requested. The library will hold a fund-raising campaign to cover some of the cost. Owens said the fund-raiser may raise about half of the project’s cost, but they were not sure. Nonetheless, the town will fund the entire project and the library will then pay the town back with the money it generates from the campaign.

While the library money is included in the capital budget, it will have to be voted on by residents. The vote is expected to occur this November.

Finally, Owens is requesting $30,000 to study the drainage on Schooner Road. Owens estimates it will close about $1 million to fix the issues in that area.