On the heels of budget cuts that wiped out three top school positions, the town of Gorham could also lose administrators as councilors struggle with a spending plan that would avert a tax hike.

In preliminary action Tuesday on a budget prepared by Town Manager David Cole, the Gorham Town Council eliminated several municipal jobs. The positions and accompanying savings include the town engineer, Tim Braun, $54,506; compliance officer, Ephrem Paraschak, $52,125; and reference librarian at Baxter Memorial Library, Joanne Gordon, $31,177.

The council also reduced library staff hours, saving $3,092; reduced pay for an administrative position in the Gorham Fire Department, saving between $863 and $4,078; and replaced contracted janitorial services at the Public Safety Building with work-release prisoners from the Windham Correctional Center, saving $10,500.

Cole’s recommended cuts came at the request of the Town Council, which earlier this month had asked him to trim his proposed gross $11.8 million municipal budget, up 1.5 percent, so the tax rate wouldn’t rise.

“We understood we sent you on a difficult errand,” Town Council Chairman Burleigh Loveitt said Tuesday. “It meant cuts none of us take any happiness in.”

Cole said the changes approved Tuesday represent a $132,000 reduction. But, this week’s council action was tentative and final approval of a budget would be considered next month.

Cole is also proposing a new position, director of planning and code, but has not listed a salary for it yet. The work of the compliance officer would be included in this position. Any engineering services the town needed would be done by private firms.

The Town Council had also asked the School Committee to submit a budget that wouldn’t increase the local tax burden. To comply, 14 full-time jobs were cut to reduce a proposed $30.3 million budget. The School Committee last week approved its $29.6 million budget, up 3.1 percent.

Leighton O’Connor, school business manager said Wednesday the jobs lost and accompanying savings included his position, $115,000; the curriculum coordinator, Karen Rumery, $96,000; and transportation director, Laurie Anderson, $58,000.

A committee chaired by school Superintendent Ted Sharp will assume responsibility for Rumery’s job. Paul Roney, facilities manager, will also handle transportation duties. Sharp will take the business manager role.

Other Gorham school job losses include 3.6 teaching positions and eight educational technicians. Three jobs in the school nutrition program were cut, while hours of five others were trimmed. One-and-a-half custodians positions were also eliminated.

“We’re losing staff but not programs,” School Committee member Roger Marchand said in its meeting last week.

Besides reducing proposed budgets, the town expects an estimated rise of $15 million in valuation as an aid to stabilize its tax rate.

After Tuesday’s municipal cuts, the estimated tax rate to cover the municipal share of the budget is $4.45 per $1,000 of valuation, or a penny less than the current rate.

Cole’s initial budget would have raised the tax rate 8 cents per $1,000 of valuation. But if voters hadn’t approved borrowing $3 million in a bond referendum last fall to repair roads, Cole’s original proposed budget would have accounted for a 13 cent decrease from last year’s tax rate, he said.

Sharp said the budget approved by the School Committee doesn’t raise the tax rate one cent. The tax rate to cover local school costs is an estimated $10.46, remaining the same as last year.

In this week’s action, one municipal job was spared. Cole’s recommendation to eliminate the position of Assistant Code Enforcement Officer Freeman Abbott wasn’t approved by the council. But Councilor Brenda Caldwell favored Cole’s slate of recommendations.

“I think the town manager knows best where cuts should come from,” Caldwell said.

After a plea by Code Enforcement Officer Clint Cushman to save his assistant’s job, the council voted 4-3 (Burleigh Loveitt, Brenda Caldwell and Jane Knapp opposed) to keep the position, costing the town $59,618.

In keeping that position in the budget, the council agreed to move $21,500 from the contingency account and $16,000 from a cable TV reserve account to the general fund. It also used $2,000 of a $4,000 amount earmarked for grounds maintenance at the municipal center. The council did not agree with Cole’s recommendation to hire a part-time library assistant to replace the reference librarian position.