As the town and school district face a combined potential budget deficit of nearly $1.8 million this coming fiscal year, the select board will consider asking voters to revisit the question of how Westport should fund its share of the Diman regional vocational school project. If it fails at the polls in April, the town may have to pull out of the regional project.

Town Administrator Jim Hartnett told the board Monday that if the outcome of the next vote is similar to the one in November — when voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the town to use excluded debt to fund the already approved project — then the town’s withdrawal from the Diman agreement is not out of the question.

“That’s not something anyone wants to do ... but if we have to pay for the whole thing out of the (operating) budget, that is something that may have to be considered.”

Voters approved funding the project at Town Meeting in May, leaving only the question of where the money will come from — approximately $7.5 million over the life of the project's bonds — unanswered. Officials had hoped voters would approve excluded debt. But when the question failed, that left only three options — take the funds out of the operating budget, go back to voters and ask again and, if that fails, consider pulling out of the project.

More than 500 voters left the November ballot question blank — an indication, some select board members suggested, that they may have been unsure of how to vote. Chairwoman Shana Shufelt said the board will need to do a better job educating the public prior to the April vote. If it fails again, and the town does not pull out of the agreement, the impact on town services could be severe, given the state mandated 2.5 percent levy cap the town must abide by in setting the annual operating budget.

The budget

Hartnett stressed Monday that his budget numbers are very preliminary. Department heads were instructed to include contracted raises of about two percent for most departments and to submit level funded budgets. He was able to cut an additional $320,000 from the town’s departmental budget proposals, and other cost cutting measures were evaluated.

“In general,” Hartnett said, “the budget is not sustainable. You are going to have the same issue next year…We are getting less and less to work with. We need to get creative.”

In presenting an example of the types of challenges faced by the town, Hartnett said overall pension and insurance costs represented 17 percent of the overall budget in 2008 and are now at 25 percent. As was the case last year, Hartnett and others believe a budget override, which would allow the town to exceed its 2.5 percent levy cap to fund the operating budget, is all but necessary.

Budget override

Board members made it clear that the question was not if, but when a budget override would be put before voters. Options include putting the question on the April ballot or presenting it at Town Meeting in May and then holding a special election. But Shufelt expressed concern that putting both the Diman and override questions on the April ballot might be poorly received.

In discussing the amount of the override, Shufelt said town officials have struggled to come up with an appropriate number, and that $3 million is currently on the table. If approved, she said, the board would not use the funds all at once; rather, town officials would likely consider appropriating half to department expenses and half to stabilization.

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