After just 44 people attended this year’s town meeting, the Windham Town Council will debate the future of the annual tradition at its Aug. 4 workshop.

Next week Windham will become the third Lakes Region town in recent months to debate the future of the annual town meeting when the Town Council takes up the issue at its Aug. 4 workshop.

Chairwoman Carol Waig had the item placed on the agenda after just 44 of Windham’s 11,000 or so registered voters attended this year’s town meeting. At the meeting, which lasted for less than an hour, Waig asked residents whether they thought the annual tradition should be discontinued. After a mixed response, she decided it was time to have that discussion formally.

Town representatives in Gray and Raymond have both discussed abolishing the town meeting. In both cases the officials said they were worried that only the small number of people who attend town meeting decide on the budget. Gray residents will vote in November on whether to end the town meeting and instead vote on the budget solely through a referendum at the polls.

After Tuesday’s council meeting, Waig, too, said the town meeting does not work if so few people attend. It does not make sense for 44 people to make decisions for the rest of the town. Residents could easily make their wishes known at budget hearings if the town meeting was abolished, she said.

“Personally, I think it is a waste of time and money,” said Waig.

Councilor Liz Wisecup does not agree. Though many people may not take advantage of the town meeting, it is still there for people to use if they oppose what is being done by town government, she said.

“I think it takes one more step away from the voice of the people,” Wisecup said.

Town meeting may seem like a small thing when only a relative handful of people show up. But all the small bits of power taken away from the people add up over time, until before they know it they have little left, she said.

“I think we take a little bit of freedom away every time we tighten it up and give power to some other group,” Wisecup said.

In order to abolish the town meeting, proponents would have to collect signatures not fewer than 10 percent of registered voters in Windham. The matter would then go to referendum at the next town election, where a simple majority would have to vote in favor, Town Manager Tony Plante said.

If approved, the power for adopting a budget would fall to the Town Council, Plante said. According to the town charter, residents could petition the council to change the budget after it is approved if they disagree with the council’s spending plan, Plante said. As it stands now, he said, once the budget is approved at town meeting, it cannot be changed.