With Town Meeting in Wareham a few months away, the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, and School Committee will have to find a way to make up the $2.49 million gap in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2015.

That process began last Thursday as the Finance Committee and Town Administrator Derek Sullivan met with heads of all municipal departments throughout the day at town hall.

"There is no doubt the budget deficit presents difficult choices to the leadership of Wareham," said Larry McDonald, the chairman of the Finance Committee. "To make the drastic cuts necessary to close the gap will be devastating to both the general government departments as well as the school department."

The head of each municipal department spoke before the board about the needs for their department going forward and their proposed budgets. Every department head said they were understaffed, meaning personnel cuts might not be a viable option for balancing the budget.

"We may have to hurt for a little bit, we just can't keep spending the way we used to," said Marilyn Donahue, vice-chairman of the Finance Committee.

Donahue asked each department head about the bare minimum services they are legally mandated to provide in an effort to find a way to bridge the budget gap.

"We could cut the entire library program and it would be a drop in the bucket for the money that we're looking at," said Donahue, explaining the dire budget situation.

Town officials acknowledged they have been aware for some time of the built in budget deficits the town is facing going forward.

In 2012, then Town Administrator Mark Andrews produced a five-year budget projection based on predicted revenues and spending that said the town would have a $1.2 million budget gap in 2015, without the town taking on any new debt.

The town could vote for a Proposition 2 1/2 override to increase tax revenues and ease Wareham's financial burden, but that decision falls on the Town Meeting voters.

"What we do on the Finance Committee is advise. We have to take all of the information, which we're getting today and then go into meetings and advise the Town Meeting and whoever wants to listen to what we think is best for the town," McDonald said.

He added, "If it comes down that the general consensus is that they don't want us to spend any more money and cut the $2.5 million, you're likely to see some pretty devastating cuts in this town."

The Board of Selectmen, Financial Committee and School Committee are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room in Town Hall.