Town Meeting will reconvene on Tuesday, June 18, to pass a budget, decide whether to buy police cruisers and an ambulance, and conduct other financial business not acted upon in April, when town officials asked voters to give them more time to deal with deep budget cuts.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium. A nearly $1.2 million deficit remained in the budget when voters gathered for the annual Town Meeting in April.

Town Administrator Derek Sullivan had proposed a $54.2 million town budget, and the School Department, after cutting its original proposed budget by nearly $1 million, had planned to go to Town Meeting with a $700,000 gap between its request and Sullivan's $25.3 million budget for "net-school spending" -- that is, everything other than school transportation expenses.

With more time to deliberate, Sullivan, Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch, the Selectmen, and the School Committee agreed to divide the deficit, with the general government covering 36.5% of the gap and the School Department paying 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.

All agreed that the cuts — approximately $663,140 from the School Department and $381,170 from general government — will be painful.

Sullivan has said that cuts on the general government side will likely most greatly impact the Police Department and the Wareham Free Library. The administration budget and Municipal Maintenance will also likely be cut.

The School Department has cut $130,000 from each of the two elementary schools and from Wareham Middle School, $250,000 from Wareham High School, and approximately $30,000 from the “central office,” which includes the district’s top administrators.

Police cruisers, ambulance

New business has been added to a separate Town Meeting agenda, which will also be dealt with when voters reconvene on June 18.

Voters will be asked to approve funds to purchase police cruisers — though it is not clear how many, how much they would cost, or where the money would come from.

Also on the docket is the purchase or lease of an ambulance for the EMS Department, which Town Administrator Sullivan has said would be paid by the revenue generated by that department.

Elsewhere on the agenda are routine monetary transfers for the town’s collective bargaining agreements with unions.

Ask questions Thursday!

The Onset Protective League and Town Moderator Claire Smith will host Pre-Town Meeting tonight, June 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium.

Voters can review the financial articles that were tabled at Town Meeting in April, including the budget, as well as the agenda items on the new Special Town Meeting warrant.

Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Nan Miller of the Onset Protective League at 508-291-1635, or Moderator Claire Smith at 508-295-4679.