WESTPORT — Before Governor Patrick Deval announces what cuts he will make to close another state-revenue gap, Westport town officials and department heads are figuring ways to weather the storm.

Last year, the state cut the town’s local aid by $147,553. And then the state told the school department that $90,000 it had promised isn’t coming this year. (The school department has absorbed this loss, with the help of higher funding from the town.)

Between his best guess of what the state cuts might be and how short the highway department’s snow budget might be this winter, Mr. Coughlin estimates that the town might be up against a deficit of $400,000 to $600,000.

Town departments slimmed down this year’s budget requests several times, knowing that funding was tight. Now, department heads are being asked to prepare for more cuts from the state.

Selectmen agreed to Town Administrator Michael Coughlin’s suggestion to have the directors of all town departments — even those not directly controlled by selectmen — to look for areas where funding can be reduced and to think up some cost savings. As they did for this year’s budget, Mr. Coughlin wants each department to have a list of options from which the painful cuts may be made.

To demonstrate the seriousness of the financial situation and to set an example, Mr. Coughlin said he will take nine furlough days — the same act of self-sacrifice that Gov. Deval is asking of all state executive branch managers. While it may be the same kind of effort, Mr. Coughlin said he will most likely still work those days.

“Leadership has to start at the top,” Mr. Coughlin said of his decision to emulate the state’s cost-cutting measure. “We have to drive the point home that these are tough times.”

Mr. Coughlin said furloughs may not be “practical” for other town employees. He said he will meet with all of the unions in separate sessions in November — by then, town officials hope they’ll know the impact of state cuts — in an effort to find savings.

Mr. Coughlin also recommended that the town find ways to reduce energy costs and start implementing some of the efficiency measures suggested in reports.

The town recently applied for an energy audit grant that will help identify what materials or programs are available to make town buildings more energy-efficient. Mr. Coughlin said the school department will also apply for a grant that would pay for energy-efficient windows and insulation for the schools.

Improving efficiency in the town government may help two accounts that tend to run into deficit each year, Mr. Coughlin said.

A recently completed audit of the highway department found several ways to improve the department and the town’s handling of the snow and ice budget, which had a $310,000 shortfall last year that was made up with funds from free cash. Looking at the past five years, the auditor (Roselli, Clark and Assoc.) says that the town’s annual allocation of $69,635 does not cover the cost of even one snowstorm. The town should fund the snow and ice budget based on a five-year average, the auditor recommends. The auditor also criticized the use of funds from the snow and ice budget to purchase two new plows and repairs and equipment maintenance, saying these should have been drawn from the operating budget. (Among other things, the audit also recommends a charter change so that the highway surveyor is an appointed position; says that the department desperately needs a technology overhaul of its still-typewritten records and a “technologically savvy” clerk who can work with new automated programs; and that if Chapter 90 reimbursement forms were filed on time, the highway budget would be better covered and less draining on town funds.)

As for the landfill budget, which runs an annual deficit of between $50,000 to $80,000, depending on whom you ask, the town is undergoing work through a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that may help improve the operation of the transfer station.

“Since snow and ice removal is expected to be a major pressure in our widening budget gap, it is hoped that improved efficiencies within the highway department, in particular in managing snow and ice expenditures, will yield savings,” Mr. Coughlin said. “It is also hoped that the adoption of best practices at the landfill by DEP as part of their report will also cut costs.”

After paying off the snow and ice deficit, the remaining money in the free cash account (which was $1.1 million last year) was used to shore up the gap in this year’s town budget. The town has a $1.2 million cushion in the stabilization account (a rainy-day fund), but Mr. Coughlin hopes the town can save that money for next year’s budget. He estimates that the town will have to deal with a deficit of over a million dollars for Fiscal Year 2011 (begins July 1, 2010), largely due to using more than $600,000 from free cash as a one-time funding source for the town budget. He also assumes there will be less local aid coming from the state next year, since the state keeps cutting back on funds that have been promised.