Town Meeting Monday voted down a purchase of 40 defibrillators after it began discussing a shorter, though still controversial, proposal for the town to borrow money to acquire various big-ticket items.

The first article of the fall Town Meeting agenda, which was the last one discussed on Monday due to the meeting's new lottery system, asks voters to allow the town to borrow money to purchase "capital" items - assets such as land, buildings, and equipment which are predicted to have a life of many years.

In addition to the defibrillators, on the list are a generator and a parking meter system for Wareham Police and funding for an ambulance rebuild for Emergency Medical Services.

The article was changed from what originally appeared on the agenda, which included leases for a prisoner transport vehicle and a four-wheel drive vehicle for the police and a lease of seven school buses.

Town Administrator Mark Andrews said after the meeting adjourned that Treasurer/Collector John Foster recommended that the leases not be addressed at this meeting due to the town's "borrowing situation." Andrews said that the leases could not immediately be financed, but that he planned to add them to his fiscal year 2013 budget, to be approved by Town Meeting in April.

Though the proposal was cut back, the debate was not.

Voters spent more than 45 minutes debating the purchase of the defibrillators before the meeting concluded.

The Police Department's current defibrillator model has been in use by officers for more than 10 years, Police Chief Richard Stanley said. The units will not be supported by the manufacturer after January, 2012. After that, the units will be "expensive to maintain, if not impossible" to maintain, he added.

Wareham Police officer Dean Decas read a statement from a resident whose life he and fellow officers helped save with a defibrillator in 2005.

"Every taxpayer here in Wareham deserves a second chance at life," Decas read from the statement.

Proponents argued that the voters could not take a chance with someone's life.

"We can't wait," said precinct 1 resident Ed Pacewicz. The defibrillators are "over a year outdated. We have to get them now. ... [Stanley] is the manager in charge. He's telling us how many we need and why we need them. Is there anyone else in here who can argue with him? I don't think so."

Voters in opposition asked whether so many units had to be immediately purchased and whether a "tiered" replacement plan could be implemented so the town would not have to replace every unit all at once in the future.

Others, including Finance Committee chair Frank Heath in his written report to residents, pointed out that the town had to dip into a reserve fund, reducing it by $1.5 million, to balance this year's budget last April.

"As we approach the next budget cycle it will be necessary to find new sources of revenue to fund operations, possibly resulting in cuts to town services and more delay in addressing our infrastructure issues in the schools, the Water Pollution Control Facility, municipal buildings, and departmental equipment," Heath said. "It appears in reality that there is no further distance available to kick the can down the road. The time has come to make difficult decisions."

Voters further argued that the town should not make any purchases or borrow any money until more financial information becomes available.

Auditors are still ironing out a $919,000 variance between the town's general ledger and the treasurer's cashbook in fiscal year 2010, which was discovered by auditors last March. In an October 21 letter from accounting firm Powers & Sullivan addressed to Andrews, James Powers wrote that the discrepancy has been reduced by $180,000, but that auditors are still working.

The variance was caused by "errors in accounting activity" and auditors believe that the problem represents "an accounting variance as opposed to actual missing cash," Powers wrote.

Adding to the uncertainty, the fiscal year 2011 audit was delayed after "almost 500 journal entries were submitted by departments to the accounting office for posting to the [fiscal year 2011] ledgers," according to the letter.

"Listen, defibrillators are important," Selectman Steve Holmes told voters, noting that he has been a patient in "a great Wareham system" since experiencing heart problems last May. "This isn't about defibrillators. It's about fiscal responsibility and management, and since I've been sitting here and watching this process, we have zero fiscal responsibility and management."

Holmes continued: "The money we've spent over the past year on audits, people getting fired and hired, sitting at home getting paid... we probably could have paid for this."

The statement was met with applause, much to the chagrin of Town Moderator Claire Smith, who later pointed out that voters had done "really well up until this article" in remaining respectful.

The defibrillators failed to garner a 2/3 vote, with 99 voters in-favor and 122 opposed.

Voters will debate the generator purchase when Town Meeting reconvenes on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium.

In other Town Meeting business:

• Voters approved routine articles for debt payments on the Tremont Nail and Bryant Farm conservation properties and approved the transfer of Community Preservation Funding to a reserve fund earmarked for affordable housing.
• Voters approved funding for repairs to the rubber roofing on Town Hall.
• A $60,000 purchase of a boom truck and $100,000 in funds for electrical and HVAC work for the the Water Pollution Control Facility was approved by voters. That money will be transferred from an account that contains funding generated by the sewer department.
• Voters OK'd the use of $79,000 of funding generated by permits the Harbormaster Department issues for the purchase of a new pick-up truck, navigational equipment, radio communications, and two additional docks for Besse Park in downtown Wareham.