Town Meeting on Tuesday approved a $54.2 million budget that will likely close the Wareham Free Library on July 1, cuts officers from the police force, and eliminates staff in schools.

The approved budget was the solution to a $1.2 million deficit that remained when Town Meeting opened in April. Voters at that time agreed to postpone a budget vote so officials could decide how to proceed.

After deliberating, officials eventually decided that the general government would cover 36.5% of the gap and the School Department would pay for 63.5% of the gap. The rationale for the split was that the School Department’s budget accounts for approximately 65% of the town’s overall budget, and officials compromised from that percentage.

But the result isn't pretty.

"It's not a perfect budget," Selectmen Chair Peter Teitelbaum said. "I don't think anyone was happy when we voted to [approve] the budget."

Though town officials had warned that deep cuts to the Wareham Free Library budget would cripple it, Roger Bacchieri of the library's Board of Trustees was more specific in addressing Town Meeting voters.

"We realize that the library is one service among many taking the necessary cuts. We want you all to be aware of the consequences," Bacchieri said. "With the budget we are offered, beginning 1 July, we cannot open the building on Marion Road."

Bacchieri explained that the budget only allows for three full-time staff members — the director and two librarians — as well as one 1/4-time staffer. The staff cannot service that size of a building, and closing certain sections of it has proved unsuccessful in the past.

If the library cannot secure approximately $90,000 in funding from its nonprofit partners — the Wareham Free Library Foundation and the Friends of the Wareham Free Library — staff will instead work out of the Spinney Memorial Library in Onset, which is currently privately funded by the Friends.

"If we are forced to use Spinney as our only library, we can open it six days per week," Bacchieri said.

Currently, the Wareham Free Library is open five days per week, while the Spinney branch is open three days.

The Wareham Police Department will lose three full-time employees, including two patrol officers and an administrative assistant.

In the School Department, the cuts include: Four half-time "interventionists," who provide extra help to students who need it, from Minot Forest Elementary; a kindergarten teacher and a fourth-grade teacher from John W. Decas Elementary and a reduction in maintenance supplies; a guidance counselor from Wareham Middle School and $75,000 in cuts from non-instructional accounts; At the Wareham High, a an adjustment counselor/social worker, an art teacher, three clubs, three department heads, a part-time secretary, and a part-time teacher assistant. Athletics budgets will also take hits at the high school and a retiring social studies teacher will not be replaced.

The School Department got a bit of good news during the meeting, however. Voters allowed the town to borrow $397,000 to buy new textbooks and fund technology upgrades.

Approximately $355,000 will pay for digital books, with the schools receiving hardcopies for free, Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch said.

The town will pay off the loan over a period of five years.

Town Administrator Derek Sullivan acknowledged that the budget was a painful one, but assured voters that all parties worked together to come up with the difficult solution.

"I ask that you consider the amount of work put into this budget," he said in asking voters to approve it.

The fiscal year ends on June 30, making it nearly imperative that Town Meeting approved the budget on Monday. Still, it took more than an hour for the meeting to obtain the required 150 voters needed to weigh in the financial business.

Elsewhere at Town Meeting, voters approved what officials stressed are much needed purchases of an ambulance, police cruisers, and school buses. For that story, click here.