WILTON – Residents are invited to a free barbecue at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Academy Hill School before the annual town meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. The menu is hamburgers and hot dogs.

The warrant contains mostly funding items. Budget items up for consideration reflect a spending decrease of $23,662 from the current year’s budget, Irish notes in her message to the town. The recommended municipal budget for 2009-10 totals $2,762,681.

“We’ve tried to trim as much as we can but still provide services,” she said Thursday.

Although individual departments have worked to keep expenses the same or less than last year, the town faces a drop in revenues and interest on its accounts, she said.

This means taxpayers face an increase of $95,038 to be raised from taxes for municipal services. The total to be raised from taxes for 2009-10 is $1.55 million compared to $1,457,419 last year, she noted.

State revenue sharing is expected to be $20,000 less than the amount budgeted for last year. The town is also receiving less revenue from excise taxes on car registrations. That amount is expected to decline more through the year, she noted. The town’s accounts are also receiving less interest.

No new equipment or major projects are included in the town warrant, she said.

Some department budgets reflect small increases caused by adjustments in insurances and employee contributions, but each department has reduced other items to help compensate, she said.

An increase in the winter highway budget from $283,133 to $307,441 results from higher road salt costs, she said.

Residents will also decide whether to accept a revised comprehensive plan. A committee has worked over the last two years to update the 1995 document that addresses new State Planning Office requirements. Its purpose is to serve as a guide for town growth and development. The plan can be viewed at the town office or on the town’s Web site at www.wiltonmaine.org.

Another article asks voters to amend the town’s Zoning Ordinance to comply with the Department of Environmental Protection’s new requirements for shoreland zoning.