WINDHAM – The Windham finance committee cut more than $200,000 from the town manager’s municipal budget Tuesday, paring down the proposal so that it would cause no increase in taxes.

Manager Tony Plante had submitted a budget totaling $14,185,383 to the council last month. After several weeks of review, the three-member finance committee, made up of councilors Matthew Noel, John MacKinnon and Peter Anania, was able to slash another $224,006. The revised budget, totaling $13,961,377, represents a zero increase from this year’s budget, though residents would face higher taxes due to a proposed 3 percent increase in the school budget.

While some public comment was received Tuesday night, the finance committee’s proposals will get a second hearing Tuesday night. The full council will vote on the budget Thursday, May 26, at a special meeting scheduled for 7 p.m.

The finance committee Tuesday considered several measures, including:

• Based on recent indications from Augusta indicating higher-than-expected revenues due to more economic activity in the state, the committee increased their estimate of state revenue sharing from $825,000 to $950,000.

• Councilor stipends were reduced from the town manager’s budget by $7,140 to $1 per meeting, their current level.

• The committee called for canceling the town’s contract with PROP (People’s Regional opportunity Program) for general assistance collection. The committee wants to avoid PROP’s scheduled hourly increase of $36 to $48 next year, so committee members voted to hire an in-house GA administrator at no more than $60,000 including benefits (36 hours a week) who can keep closer watch on how much is spent on assistance. The total savings, while dependent on the economy and number of GA requests, are estimated to at least pay for the new GA administrator.

• The Windham Public Library would lose a total of $20,000 in staff time, which could mean the closure of the library for an entire day or parts of several days.

• The town’s trash bag fee would increase 10 cents, to $1.35 for small bags and 20 cents to $2.70 for large bags.

• The Parks and Recreation summer day camp would be cut, saving $10,250.

• The cost of police overtime, which now totals 8,100 hours a year, would be reduced by $25,000. The excessive overtime – which resident Bruce Elder said during public comment is an example of how the town is not acting as a small business would – is partly due to lack of police officers on staff, Noel explained. But with two police academy graduates joining the force this year, Noel estimates the department will need to use less overtime.

• The $650,000 road improvement account would be cut by $107,500. Noel said the town was not able to use the allocated money last year and as a result will have a surplus of $1 million as of Aug. 1. The town doesn’t have the crew, Noel said, to draw down the full road repair budget in one repair season.