SANFORD — A reduction by one-third in the town’s proposed contribution to the local bus service will mean a decrease in days and hours of operation and a rate hike, the director of the not-for-profit transit service said.

Sanford’s representational Town Meeting is at 7 p.m. tonight at Sanford High School cafeteria. Representatives from seven wards will vote on a combined municipal and school budget of about $54.4 million. The municipal budget contains reductions including elimination of 13 positions, two of which have already taken effect, among other cuts.

The cut for the transit system is among those proposed for community and social service agencies.

York County Community Action Corporation Transportation Director Connie Garber said the proposed reduction from $13,350 to $8,900 for Sanford Transit means local bus service will operate five hours a day, four days a week ”“ down from eight hours a day, five days a week, starting July 1. One-way fares will double to 50 cents for senior citizens and young children and to $1 for adults and older children.

“The largest user of our services is senior citizens,” Garber said. Of the more than 20,000 riders in 2010, more than 12,000 were senior citizens, she said.

The proposed cut in bus funding is part of the larger community agency portion of the budget, proposed at $32,206, down from $58,866 a year ago. Funding for Sanford Food Pantry, York County Food Rescue and Biddeford Free Clinic was transferred to the town’s General Assistance category.

Proposed funding for The Children’s Center, Southern Maine Agency on Aging, Trafton Senior Center, Child Abuse Prevention Council, other York County Community Action Corporation services and Literacy Volunteers of Greater Sanford has also been reduced by a third.

Funding for transportation and textbooks at St. Thomas School, a separate warrant article, is proposed at $69,000, down from $97,800 this year.

Literacy Volunteers of Greater Sanford will receive $8,000 if Town Meeting voters approve the budget, down from $12,000 this year and $16,000 two years ago.

“It is difficult to see the funding sources declining because we do provide a valuable service, “ said Literacy Volunteers President Geoff Titherington. About one in seven adults in the area have trouble with reading and other tasks, according to the agency.

Titherington is also a supporter of Sanford Transit. Many residents, he said, don’t have cars and have no other way to travel.

Town Manager Mark Green, directed by the Town Council to cut spending with the goal of a zero percent municipal tax hike, proposes a further one-third cut to the agencies next year and elimination of agency stipends in the third year.

Green said the agencies provide valuable services, but are not part of the core services the town provides. To try to achieve the council’s goal, cuts had to be made, he said, and deeper cuts to police and fire would have resulted if the other agencies hadn’t been cut. The 11 municipal jobs to be eliminated or left vacant July 1 include five in public works, two at the police department, one at the fire department, a part-time grant writing position and two part-time custodial jobs. Three workers will see their hours reduced from 40 to 30 per week.

Green said he wishes he’d given more thought to two proposed cuts ”“ the transit reduction, he said, because he didn’t think through the impact on riders, and the part-time grant writer’s position.

Green cut more than $1 million, he estimated, and his proposed budget still didn’t achieve the zero increase the council wanted. The Finance Committee proposes using $200,000 more from surplus than Green had intended, so two cents of the projected 43 cent tax rate increase is attributed to the municipal budget. The rest comes from the school side, which is coping with $400,000 less in state funding and $250,000 less in MaineCare reimbursements.

Sanford Transit served 20,939 passengers in 2010, up 169 percent from 2005, according to Garber. She said the town’s contribution is one-third of the cost of the service; the rest is paid by federal funds and fares.

Finance Committee Chairman James Drummey said the panel, whose recommendations will be voted tonight, listened to requests from several agencies, but felt they were unable to fund them all.

“We feel bad, but at some point you have to say, ”˜No,’” Drummey said. “People at home can’t pay for their heat.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.