By a margin of more than two-to-one, Wareham voters have said "NO" to a Proposition 2 1/2 override.

The final tally was 2,811 NO votes to 1,332 YES votes on the question, "Shall the Town of Wareham be allowed to assess an additional $4.5 million in real estate and personal property taxes for purposes of funding town and school operating expenses and capital expenses for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2014 - yes or no?"

"For the past several months, the Selectmen, Finance Committee and School Committee have worked together to give voters an alternative to a loss of services," Selectman Peter Teitelbaum said. "Voters have chosen to lose those services and we respect that decision."

With a no vote the town will operate under the balanced budget passed at spring Town Meeting for fiscal year 2015.

The balanced budget, making use of only the property tax revenue that can be raised within the confines of tax-limiting Proposition 2 1/2, makes deep cuts in town services, and lays off 45 employees, including police and municipal maintenance workers as of July 1.

Without the funding provided for in the override budget the library will lose nearly all of its funding. The Main Library will fail to meet state certification and it is unclear as to what services the library will be able to provide.

"I think the voters themselves are very distrustful of town government, but they shouldn't be," said Finance Committee member Marilyn Jordan.

She said the town has a large elderly population that doesn't want to keep throwing money at the schools.

"They understand that money gets thrown at things but they don't see results," Jordan said.

Resident Betsy Budd said she voted yes on the override and was disappointed with the final result.

"Why would you want to buy a house in a town that doesn't support its schools," she said.

The Main Library would be forced to lose employees and operate on a town budget of $125,000, which is $170,000 less than the previous fiscal year's funding and $300,000 less than funding from two years ago.

The schools would operate under the same budget as last year ($26.8 million) despite rising costs. The NO vote results in the potential loss of around 34 positions within the school department.

Both the schools and the town lack funds for significant technology and infrastructure upgrades in the balanced budget and the town will not be able to set aside money for a stabilization fund as the override budget planned for.

The balanced budget also provides no funding for the Council on Aging, which received $82,000 in funding from the town the previous two years. But the program does receive a $43,000 grant from elder services.

"You would be able to fund some portion of [the Council on Aging], obviously you can't fund what you have now but you can use some of those grants," said Town Administrator Derek Sullivan at a public meeting with seniors in March.

Roughly 29 percent of Wareham's registered voters came out to the polls on Tuesday.

"I want to thank all the voters who showed up," said Finance Committee Chairman Larry McDonald. "We put the information out there, and they made their decision."