The Hookett Budget Committee finalized its municipal budget proposal, officially recommending more than $200,000 be cut from the proposed Police Department budget.

The final budget figure, which includes revenues and expenditures of the Sewer Department, is $15.8 million – also the dollar figure townspeople will mull over at the deliberative session of Town Meeting on April 4. It brings the total recommended operating budget under the default budget by almost $60,000.

In separate action, committee members voted on recommendations for over a dozen proposed warrant articles. Most of the votes were unanimously in favor of recommendation.

Only two articles were not recommended by the committee, including an article that would have raised $10,000 toward the Police Department’s existing emergency radio capital reserve fund. Financial records indicate the current balance of that account is at approximately $165,000.

The only other warrant article that was not recommended by the committee was one that would have raised $10,000 towards the Parks and Recreation Department’s reserve facility fund.

The balance of this existing account is in excess of $80,000.

Budget Committee member Marc Miville, who participated in the discussion via intercom telephone from Oklahoma, said economic times dictate the committee must draw a hard line on some of these “wish-list” items.

“Not this year,” Miville said after casting his vote against the proposed Parks and Recreation warrant article.

The committee voted in favor of recommending the majority of the proposed warrant articles including one that will hire a children’s librarian in December for about $32,000. The salary and benefits of the full-time employee would be absorbed in the following year’s operating budget should this article pass during Town Meeting voting.

The committee also voted to endorse raises for town firefighters as well as an article that will create a $75,000 merit wage pool for raises for nonunion town employees.

The deliberative session of Town meeting for the Hooksett is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 4, at Cawley Middle School, on Whitehall Road.