Wareham's contribution to the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School budget is set to increase by $400,000 for next year and Wareham officials are concerned that Wareham can't afford to pay the bill.

With Wareham's budget being as tight as it is, some local officials are concerned that Wareham simply can't afford to contribute as much to the budget as Upper Cape is asking.

"We're, as a town, basically level funding what we have now," said Selectman Alan Slavin.

This means the budget will be funded at the same level as last year, despite rising expenses.

Even if Wareham does not approve the Upper Cape budget, it will still be approved if four of the other five towns in the regional school district approve it, and Wareham will be forced to pay.

Last spring, Town Meeting voters voted to fund the Upper Cape budget at the same level as the previous year, but ended up paying the increased amount that Upper Cape had originally asked for when the other four towns approved the budget as requested.

The proposed  budget, which the Regional School Committee voted to approve at its meeting on March 14, is $11.9 million dollars, or approximately $190,000 more than last year's budget.

The budget would bill the Town Wareham approximately $3 million -- or $400,000 more than last year.

"Obviously, it's a significant investment, but it's an investment in your students," said Upper Cape Superintendent Robert Dutch.

The contributions of individual towns to the Upper Cape budget are based on the level of enrollment from each community. Wareham students make up 36 percent of the Upper Cape student population, the highest percentage of all five towns who send students to Upper Cape.

The number of Wareham students enrolled at Upper Cape increased from 225 students in fiscal year 2013 to 248 for fiscal year 2014. The total number of students enrolled in the Wareham School system has dropped by 550 students in that same time period.

"The state sets a minimum contribution that Wareham must provide for the students that exist in their town,"  regardless of whether they are in the Wareham School system or not, explained Dutch.

"In fiscal year 2007 Wareham had a minimum contribution of 18 million for all of the students in Wareham regardless of where they go to school," according to Dutch. Since then that number has risen to $19.8 million for fiscal year 2014.

"Their assessment has gone up twice what our budget has," said Dutch.  He said that because the contribution is mandated by the state, Upper Cape has limited power over how much Wareham's contribution will change year to year.

Members of the Wareham Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee attended the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School Committee budget hearing for fiscal year 2014 to express to them the strain the Upper Cape budget is placing on Wareham.

Saying that they were essentially there to deliver a message from Wareham taxpayers, selectman Peter Teitelbaum acknowledged that while the problems they brought to the table are Wareham's problems "Domestic problems turn into foreign policy problems."

Adding to Wareham's financial issues is the amount of state Chapter 70 aid received by Wareham Schools.

The Chapter 70 funding formula, used to determine a town's relative wealth and thus need for state aid, give heavy weight to property values. Thus, the formula makes Cape Cod towns and other towns with a lot of expensive second homes look wealthier than their year-round residents are. The formula leaves these towns without adequate funding according to Upper Cape Regional School Committee  Treasurer Steven Chalke of Falmouth.

"The entire Cape gets nailed on Chapter 70 funding," said Chalke.