To reach a balanced budget for next year by cuts alone, the town would lose entire departments and dozens of employees, Town Administrator Derek Sullivan explained to the Finance Committee last Wednesday.

The library and Council on Aging would lose funding entirely, and the police department would see a quarter million dollars in cuts and lose five positions, just to name a few of the cuts that would have to take place.

"At some point in time we no longer have any expenses to reduce and its coming very quickly unless we do something," Finance Committee Chairman Larry McDonald said.

Sullivan proposed two budget drafts on Wednesday, revealing that budget cuts alone, or a Proposition 2-1/2 override alone, would do nothing to fix the long term budget deficit.

The town is facing a $2.5 million budget gap between expenditures and revenues. Without any added revenue, Sullivan said both the library and the Council on Aging would be gone, resulting in roughly eight full-time positions lost between the departments.

The police department would not be able to fund three new hires it had budgeted for 2015 and lose two additional positions - one officer and one lieutenant. Subsequent cuts to expenses would translate to $250,000 in total cuts to the department.

Sullivan said there was also an issue with the seasonal hires for the summer.

"I can't get them in before July 1 and [this summer] we're going to have the most events we've had here in decades," he said. "It's getting bad. We're really taking the line on safety versus dollars."

The municipal maintenance department would lose one position and lose funding, which translates to less repair for potholes, less trimming along the roadway and generally, "a direct hit to services" as Sullivan put it.

Sullivan said there would be $1 million in cuts from the general government with 60 percent of that coming from salaries. The cuts would result in a ten percent reduction in the workforce. He said the school budget, which has already seen reductions, would be cut to level funding and reduced by an additional $535,000, totaling a $1.4 million reduction for the schools.

Wareham Public Schools Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood, parents and teachers began with budget talk at the first meeting of the Reconfiguration Committee on Feb. 6.

“When we came to the town with our budget, and they put the town budget together, we were over $3 million apart between the anticipated revenue and what we needed,” said Shaver-Hood. “So, the schools went back, and we cut our budget to $27 million, and came up with our reconfiguration plan.”

“Since then, we’ve been told we have another $1.4 million we need to cut out of our school budget,” Shaver-Hood said. “Keeping teachers, keeping staff is our priority."

One parent asked how the budget issues got to this point, and Shaver-Hood attributed it to raising fixed costs – especially healthcare. Another parent said the town had to bring in more revenue.

Sullivan's second budget draft showed that with the added revenue of a modest override without subsequent cuts or restructuring, the town would still be in a deficit three years into the future.

Sullivan's draft used a $3.5 million override as an example, but an actual amount for any potential override or revenue adjustment proposal has not yet been determined by the town.

He said with no additional cuts, a $3.5 million override would give the town a $1 million surplus for fiscal year 2015 with money that could go to to a stabilization fund, capital items and one-time purchases.

But even without accounting for any of those new expenses, the next year's surplus would be reduced to $457,000. Fiscal year 2017 would have a deficit of $360,000 and the deficit would continue to grow each subsequent year.

"You can see $3.5 million is not going to carry the day and make everything all right," Sullivan said. "We have to make changes within our departments, we're going to have to make cuts if an override passes and we're still going to need greater efficiency."

McDonald said the proposal for Town Meeting has to address the efficiency and long term stability of the town and would need a mix of cuts, consolidations and revenue adjustments to prevent future deficits.

"We can't go into town meeting with a 2015 budget without a five year plan backing it up," McDonald said. "I don't think there is anyone on the Finance Committee that would support an override without a five-year plan that shows progress."