FOXBORO - A special town meeting, rescheduled for Dec. 14 instead of late November, will contain at least one article with a familiar flavor.

With the town facing a nearly $1 million defict this year, selectmen have decided to place the local option meals tax before voters again.

At a sparsely attended Aug. 24 special town meeting, residents rejected a proposed meals tax after hearing the pleas of several restaurant owners. They said such a tax would hurt business and tips for wait staff.

Selectmen voiced little confidence that voters will jump at the chance to pass a tax they rejected just months ago, but said it's worth asking in light of the town's bleak budget picture.

State law would allow the town to impose a 0.75 percent meals tax - 75 cents on a $100 tab. In another key change to the warrant, a zoning change that would have made it easier to develop small parcels on Route 1, but which also would likely have increased traffic density, has been removed.

The advisory committee has a number of questions about the rezoning proposal for the S-1 district on Route 1, according to chairman James DeVellis.

The zoning bylaw review committee, chaired by David Brown, on Wednesday pulled the article, according to the selectmen's office.

Five other articles proposed by the committee remain on the warrant.

Selectmen removed from the warrant an article that would have taken Foxboro's police chief position out a Civil Service,.

a move the board has floated as a way to increase the pool of applicants in some future year after chief Edward O'Leary retires.

Member Larry Harrington said such a change bears more debate than there will be time for before the town meeting, even with the meeting moved to mid-December.