At Bow’s Town Meeting last year, residents voted to cut the operating budget significantly. This year, town officials will ask voters to increase the 2008-09 budget about $602,000 over last year.

This year, both the Budget Committee and Board of Selectmen agreed on the proposed operating budget of about $8.3 million, compared to last year’s budget of $7.7 million when Selectman Tom Keane’s floor amendment was approved 114-89.

Town Manager Jim Pitts said he knows there could be more motions to cut the budget this year at the Wednesday, May 14, Town Meeting, beginning at 7 p.m., at Bow High School.

“I don’t doubt there will be some motions from the floor, and that’s the taxpayers’ right to do that,” said Pitts. “I hope they’re prepared to identify what service they are proposing we could do without.”

After last year’s cuts, town officials were forced to cut services such as non-emergency paving and street lights, something Pitts said was hard to do.

“It was very difficult for the selectmen to arrive at the decision of what to cut. We were cutting services that had been routinely part of our town budget,” he said. “Generally speaking, the budget going to Town Meeting is extremely realistic. While the operating budget is up from last year, it in essence is restoring that cut from last year.”

Budget Committee members estimate an increase in the total town portion of the tax rate to be 83 cents per $1,000 assessed property value over last year, if all warrant articles pass.

An 83 cent increase in the rax rate would result in a bill of $250 more than last year for the owner of a $300,000 home.

Originally, selectmen and the Budget Committee had budgets differing by $15,000, but the Budget Committee voted to restore that amount to the library’s section of the budget, leaving the two proposals equal.

“We were concerned that if we don’t continue to contribute to the book collection, there would be a negative impact,” said Budget Committee Chairman Dan De Vasto. “We want to make sure that we have enough to provide the level of service that the people in town have grown accustomed to.”

Pitts said town officials were cognizant of the difficult economic times while constructing the proposed budget.

“I can understand the pain of voting to increase your tax, particularly when the economy’s in the shape it is. Almost 5 percent of the increase is caused by external costs that we can’t control,” he said. “They’re dealing with the increase of diesel and gasoline, and so are we. If you hold us to the same number of dollars as last year, you’re actually imposing a cut because we can do less and pay less than the year before.”