MILLINOCKET, Maine — The Town Council unanimously approved Town Manager Eugene Conlogue’s proposed $8.66 million municipal and wastewater budget at its meeting on Wednesday.

Councilors voted 7-0 on a series of motions that constituted the budget. There was no discussion. The budget will not be final until sometime after the school committee proposes its 2009-2010 fiscal plan to the council on June 11.

The school committee is due to meet in a workshop at 6 p.m. today at Stearns High School to continue its budget deliberations.

Conlogue’s budget represents a decrease in municipal spending of about $200,000 from what will be spent in the 2008-09 fiscal year, which ends June 30. It includes about $1.1 million for three special capital projects that state and federal grant money will pay for almost entirely, Conlogue said.

The projects are:

• Removal of trees, brush and other visual obstructions from just outside the grounds of Millinocket Regional Airport for an estimated $300,000.

• Creation of a walking and biking trail along Millinocket Stream for about $625,000. About $500,000 of that will be funded by a federal grant, and the local match of $125,000 will consist almost entirely of Maine Department of Transportation funds and local in-kind service donations that will not directly affect town coffers.

• A multiuse recreational bridge on Route 11 across the Penobscot River that will cost about $200,000.

The cuts in Conlogue’s budget include $100,000 from the town’s regular capital improvements account; $26,000 from the account for retiree benefits; and $25,000 from the town’s paving account.

If the school budget contains no increase in spending, the town’s mill rate, 24.2 — or $24.20 per $1,000 of valuation — will remain about the same or diminish slightly, councilors said. The mill rate is usually determined in October.

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