The town is facing a shortfall of $330,000 due to the most recent reduction in state aid.

To make up for this the Warrant Committee unanimously approved the following cuts to town departments:

• $175,000 – Police
• $110,000 – Schools
• $15,000 – Fire
• $13,000 – Public Works
• $16,000 – Misc budgets (Library, IT, etc)

The Police Department bear the lion’s share of the cuts because of the state’s no longer contributing to the Quinn bill, a bill that provided officers with salary increases tied to receiving academic degrees. Approximately half of the $330,000 the state cut was specifically for the Quinn bill.

Town departments have not yet identified what steps they will take to meet their respective revised budgets. The Special Town Meeting to review the article will be held October 19th.