Rebounding revenues and the delay of equipment purchases and repair projects have allowed Windham Town Manager Tony Plante to submit a preliminary budget that eliminates only two already vacant positions and comes in under the property tax levy limit.

“There are no layoffs, no cutbacks of hours, in this budget,” said Plante, who presented the budget Tuesday to the Town Council. The council will now begin its department-by-department review of the spending plan, starting at the April 7 meeting.

The proposed budget for municipal services is $13.8 million, a 4.3 percent decrease from the 2008-09 municipal budget. The tax rate is now $11.40 per thousand dollars of valuation, with $3.65 coming from the municipal budget and the remainder from the school and county budgets. Though the full financial picture is not clear because all the figures are not yet available, Plante estimates the preliminary municipal budget would raise the municipal portion of the tax rate by 3 percent.

The budget includes a continuation of the hiring freeze instituted late last year in the face of significantly falling revenues, as well as a wage freeze for all employees, both union and non-union. Two of the unions representing Windham town employees, the public works and the paramedics union, have agreed in principle to the wage freeze. Talks continue with those groups, Plante said, and negotiations are ongoing as well with the third group, the union representing police. A change in health insurance plans reduces the town’s costs, as well, while providing the same level of coverage, he said.

A sketch of the budget released earlier this year, when revenues, especially excise taxes, were in steep decline, anticipated as many as 10 positions were in danger of being eliminated to fill a $428,350 shortfall. Revenues have since leveled off, Plante said, and the town will likely receive grants to help pay for three police positions thought to be on the chopping block.

No large cuts were made in the budget, Plante said. The goal of presenting a budget within the property tax levy limit was met by making small cuts across many areas of the budget, he said.

“Three or four thousand dollars here, three to four thousand dollars there, and it adds up,” Plante said Tuesday.

In the end, only two positions were eliminated. Struck from the budget are the circulation supervisor position at the library and a full-time truck driver position in the Public Works Department. The driver position has been replaced with a winter-only position to help cover the busy time in the schedule, Plante said.

The budget also eliminates the household hazardous waste program and the bulky waste drop-off program. The hazardous waste program served 100-120 households, Plante said, not enough in this tight budget year to warrant the $15,000 price tag. The bulky waste program, reinstated last year as a fee-based program, did not draw enough people to offset costs, he said.

In order to reduce the budget to get it under the property tax levy limit, which limits towns to raising taxes by an amount equal to the growth of its tax base, Plante also made cuts to capital equipment purchases, reducing that line from $535,000 to $435,000. Plante also eliminated the amount set aside for land and building improvements, meaning only the projects deemed most critical to the condition and operation of the town hall will get done. He also earmarked $500,000 from the fund balance to help offset property taxes.