The Hopkinton Budget Committee has recommended several changes in both the town and school budgets.

About 50 residents came out to hear the discussion on Thursday, Feb. 7, when the committee slimmed the budgets, with the recreation department taking the biggest hit – the elimination of a requested $17,500 to hire summer camp employees.

With the adjustment, the committee’s recommended budget for the Recreation Department is $113,619, compared to selectmen’s recommendation of $131,119.

“The summer camp is a very important thing for this community,” said recreation director Justin La Vigne. “We would bring in more money with two more counselors, and we’d be able to offset those costs.”

Another major difference between the selectmen and the Budget Committee recommendations was in the Highway Department. Budget committee members were in favor of reducing the highway administration budget by $6,000, which would have been used to hire additional part-time help, if necessary, for heavy snow years.

The recommended highways and streets budget was reduced by $5,000, which was allotted to lease paving equipment and occasional plowing trucks.

In total, the town budget proposed at the Feb. 7, public hearing was $5,815,013, a difference of $57,000 from the selectmen’s proposed budget.

In the school budget, the committee recommended cutting about $200,000 from the budget to bring the total amount to $15,689,949.

“We’ve been successful in sustaining the quality of education we provide to our kids,” said Hopkinton School Board member Marshall Rowe. “The advancement comes from the faculty we have. It’s best to sustain that education with the least impact on our taxes.”

Despite a high number of teachers at the lower class levels, the board did not recommend cutting any current faculty members, something resident Beth Taylor asked the board about during the hearing.

“It was a topic of consideration as last year. We eliminated one staff member due to small class sizes,” said Rowe.

“We believe it is important to maintain the current number of teachers we have. We believe that grade 1 and 2 are most important because the rate of learning is the greatest.”

During his explanation of the town budget, Selectman TomCongoran said despite the difference between the two boards, selectmen are prepared to go forward with whatever the voters decide.

“We work for you,” said Congoran. “If you, our bosses, said we should listen to the budget committee, then we will.”