With $491,000 available in the Capital Stabilization Fund, the Capital Planning and Investment Committee is faced with whittling down $3.9 million in capital requests from town departments for fiscal 2013. Committee Chairman George Mc-Kenna announced those figures at a meeting Dec. 15.

Cut at this meeting were the composting facility for $50,000 proposed by the Department of Public Works and the School Committee's request to pave the dirt pathway that connects the Bromfield House to the Hildreth Elementary School for $15,000.

Although $25,000 remains uncut for the sidewalk program, that amount is likely to be cut on the next round, committee members said. Both Ricci and Russo said they thought a vote had been taken at a previous meeting to eliminate it.

If the Municipal Building Committee's request for money to fund the renovation to Town Hall, and a few other requests that would be drawn out of other funding sources were deducted, the total would still come to $1.3 million dollars, said capital committee member Debbie Ricci.

During the Thursday meeting, the capital committee considered every request individually for the first round of cuts. Those requests that were not cut at this meeting will be rated by committee members and further discussed before undergoing two more rounds of elimination as the committee prepares its recommendations for the Finance Committee.

The Finance Committee will then submit the capital items for fiscal 2013 for a Town Meeting vote in 2012.

The Capital Committee is trimming the budget while working to get a clearer picture of the money available for the capital fund, both this year and beyond. Some portion of this year's "free cash" will likely be added to the Capital Stabilization Fund.

The town's finance director, Lorraine Leonard, explained that "free cash" is "comprised of funds appropriated and not spent [this year], revenue received that was either not anticipated or over the amount budgeted."

Town Administrator Tim Bragan said that the amount of free cash from fiscal 2011 should be known by the end of the month. Before the second round of cuts, then, the capital committee should have a better idea of available funds for fiscal 2013.

A significant portion of the capital budget for both fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014 will be debt financing—$80,825 in 2013 and slightly more than $100,000 in 2014, committee members said. Responding to a request from capital committee member Cindy Russo, Debbie Ricci said she will ask Leonard for information about how much annual debt will be added if the town borrows an additional million dollars.