A decision that could compromise lower taxes but satisfy Gray residents who use recreation services could be made Tuesday, April 15 at the Gray Town Council meeting.

After learning that Roger Dehetre’s days as assistant director of the Gray Recreation Department could be winding down because of municipal budget cuts, a group of about 30 supporters attended a Town Council meeting to ask councilors to reconsider the cut.

“I just think you’re making a big mistake, and I would hate to lose what this town has given to me,” said 22-year-old Seth Farrington, who has been involved with the Gray Recreation Department since he was in the third-grade.

According to Dean Bennett, director of the Recreation Department, cutting Dehetre’s position would be a huge loss to the program. Bennett helped establish the Gray Recreation Department starting in the early 1990s, but he said working with Dehetre since 2000 has proved invaluable to him, and the Recreation Department.

“If he’s gone, it will be me, myself, and I, and the program will go back to the way it was in the early 90s,” said Bennett.

In the days following the meeting, Town Manager Deborah Cabana proposed the council put the $26,000 salary back into the budget. The Town Council is expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday.

Over the last 20 years, the department has gone from running a few classes in the Newbegin Gym to overseeing numerous youth and adult sports leagues, drawing people from Gray and other towns, like Windham, Portland, and Yarmouth, to the Newbegin Gym.

Youth programs include basketball, soccer, little league, track and field, and gymnastics, drawing children as young as 5, while adult leagues attract former high school and basketball athletes looking to unwind at the end of the work day with a game of basketball or flag football.

Also, the Recreation Department maintains trails at the Libby Hill Forest recreation area, and Wilkies Beach, a popular public swimming area in town.

Dehetre, a father of three, and also the basketball coach for the Gray-New Gloucester Middle School girls’ basketball team, also works at a video store to supplement his income. He helps Bennett oversee the youth soccer program, and himself runs adult basketball leagues, which comprise 12 teams, on weekday evenings.

He said he wants to keep his job because he cares about the town of Gray, and because it allows him time to coach, which is his passion.

“I love this town. I love the people in this town,” said Dehetre, who now lives in New Gloucester, but grew up in Gray.

When hired, Dehetre’s full salary was included in the municipal budget. After a couple of years, the Town Council decided that the Recreation Department ought to pay half his salary through money generated by programs. Last year, Bennett was told that Dehetre’s salary must be paid entirely through program funds, something Bennett said was not possible.

Cabana suggested that he raise program registration fees by about $20 last year. But Bennett felt this would mean a drop in numbers of participants, so he raised fees by $5. The decision was made to cut the position altogether from the 2008-09 municipal budget.

Cabana said that, in general, the proposal to reinstate Dehetre’s salary was well received by the Town Council, but Councilor Andy Upham said he is viewing the budget with scrutiny, because there is nearly a 10 percent increase from last year’s budget. Upham said he is not comfortable with anything more than a 5 percent increase.

Upham said increases in salaries have been a major force in driving the budget up, as well as increases in capital improvements. Also, $68,000 has been allocated for a revaluation fund, something that Upham believes is premature, and could be removed from this year’s budget.

While Upham said he would “love to sustain both positions” at the Recreation Department, he would like to see $200,000 taken out of the budget.

“I would advise the town manager that the budget is a little fat,” said Upham. “I think you have to look at the entire budget.”

But as far as some parents are concerned, the Recreation Department is not the place to start.

One parent, Anthony Winslow, who spoke at last week’s Town Council meeting, said he sees first hand what happens when kids do not have activities available at his job with the Department of Juvenile Corrections.

“They will get busy themselves and we will pay for it in the future,” said Winslow.

Tina Martel, another parent, had a different point of view. She is in the strategic planning field, and said that, in addition to keeping Dehetre’s position intact, she would like to see the town invest more in the Recreation Department. Martel called the investment “a marketing opportunity” for Gray, a town that is vying to become a hub, rather than a crossroads, in the greater Portland area.

Despite the show of support to keep Dehetre a town employee, some Gray residents are more concerned with the tax burden than keeping the Recreation Department up to par. One resident, Wade Trudel, said though Dehetre’s $26,000 salary is not a huge burden, each item in the municipal budget adds up.

“You can’t just keep building an army,” said Trudel. “I think they’ve funded it to the maximum amount that they should fund it out of taxpayers’ money.”

“We’re strapped,” said resident Joe Wood. “I don’t like to see anybody lose their job, but there’s got to be other ways to fund it.”

Bennett said it is not that simple. He wants to maintain the standard of the Recreation Department’s programs, keeping things like quality soccer jerseys and adult league trophies. Reduction in services is not something to which he is willing to succumb.

“I’ve been here 17 years now, and I’ve been accused of being stubborn,” said Bennett.

For now, Dehetre said he is glad Cabana made the proposal to keep him on as a town employee. But he is cautiously optimistic as he waits for the Town Council to vote Tuesday night.

“Money-wise, I could probably go somewhere else and make the same money, but I hope I won’t have to do that. I guess it’s the pride I have in the town,” said Dehetre.

Roger Dehetre, the assistant director of the Gray Parks and Recreation Department, could lose his job should the Gray Town Council decide not to include his salary in the new municipal budget.