The Finance Committee on Wednesday opted not to spend the town's reserves in order to balance last year's budget, but instead to transfer money totaling nearly $230,000 between departments to make up a gap.

Last year's budget cycle -- fiscal year 2012 -- ended on June 30, and the town has until July 15 to fill any departmental deficits. Ending the year in deficit would result in financial penalties from the state.

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, July 10, suggested that the FinCom transfer money from its reserve fund to cover part of the deficit. The reserve fund contains money for emergencies.

FinCom members were hesitant about that idea.

"The reserve fund was not meant to be a piggy bank," noted FinCom member Frank Heath.

But transferring funds from departments with surpluses to departments with deficits is also frowned upon by the state Department of Revenue as it feels towns need to budget funds correctly to begin with. The legality of transferring large amounts from one department to another is also questionable, but town officials called it "the lesser of two evils."

The FinCom members ultimately approved the transfers -- but were stern in telling Financial Analyst Derek Sullivan and newly-hired Town Accountant Brian Kudish that they did not want to be put in the same position next year.

Finance Committee member Dave Trudell said that the community will soon have a difficult decision to make.

"We've played games with healthcare, we've played games with time off ... and we're running out of room," he explained. "Match expenses with income or continue to play the game. We're coming to the brick wall."