TIVERTON — For nearly two hours, the Town Council Monday night, with members of the Budget Committee sitting in the audience, tossed around ideas about ways the Town might cut $782,895 from the budget proposed by the Budget Committee to comply with a voter mandate to trim. No consensus was reached, no votes were taken, no instructions or recommendations were made as to where cuts could or should be made.

So all eyes are on the Budget Committee, which meets this Thursday, June 9, at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

"This is making me physically ill, to have to say these things," said Councilor Brett Pelletier.

The Council gave up at around 9 p.m., when Council President Denise deMedeiros suddenly said," I make a motion to adjourn the meeting," and the council did just that.

The council's quest for cuts had been mandated by the passage at the Financial Town Referendum (FTR) on May 21 of Budget #2, proposed by petition by Justin Katz.

Mr. Katz's budget called for an increase in the tax levy for FY17 of 0.9%, while the Budget Committee's budget had called for a tax levy increase of 3.5%.

The new fiscal year starts July 1 and there's no budget yet adopted. Although the council is in the position of offering guidance, the Katz budget hands the task to the Budget Committee to make the required cuts.

The Budget Committee got little help from the Town Council Monday night, other than a demonstration of how difficult the budget-cutting is going to be. Mr. Katz was not present.

"If these are Justin Katz's cuts," Councilor Dave Perry said of some of the cuts floated around during the discussion, "let him come before the Budget Committee and recommend them."

"I'm going to encourage Justin Katz to go to the Thursday meeting," said President deMedeiros.

Among the ideas and comments offered were:

• There are 12 retired town employees who are over 65, and a 13th will soon turn 65 who are getting health insurance paid for by the town under coverage agreed to by the town during their employment.

One idea, as Town Administrator Matt Wojcik explained — taking pains to say he wasn't recommending it — was to "transition those beneficiaries" from a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan to a Medicare Plan.

"I can imagine that none of these individuals will receive this information happily," Mr. Wojcik said. The net savings could be about $220,000, he said. "There will be resistance to this change, and the labor legal budget will have to be adjusted to reflect the added work."

Spouses and children might also lose coverage if this option were to be adopted, someone said.

Councilor Pelletier asked about the impact of this possibility on current employees, "if we continue to welch on our obligations."

"I don't know if we're going to have to tell the families, 'you're screwed,'" said President deMedeiros.

• Another idea was to go to a higher deductible for all health insurance offered to town employees, or at least to those not protected (yet) by union contracts. The effect of this approach, said Mr. Wojcik, again not recommending it, could be the equivalent of a 10% pay cut.

• It was noted that the Mr. Katz had recommended that the "Department of Public Works should be run with the goal of no overtime expenses."

"There will be no snow," said President deMedeiros. "Safety comes first," she said, "so there will definitely be snow plowing."

• "We're not going to pave any roads this year," said Councilor Joe Sousa. He then made a motion to eliminate all non-recurring capital expendifures for FY17, a $340,000 savings. No one seconded the motion, and it was never mentioned again during the evening.

"Maybe roads are where we're going to have to cut," someone else said.

• Councilor Jay Lambert offered a rationale for postponing capital repairs and maintenance: "If I can go 10 years, I can go 11 years," without fixing things, he said.

"These things will be more expensive next year," said President deMedeiros.

• One of the capital items that could be postponed is a new rescue truck, Mr. Katz had suggested.

"Last week all rescue vehicles were in being fixed, and we had to have mutual aid to perform rescues," said Mr. Wojcik.

• "I don't think we should touch the senior center," said Councilor Peter Mello.

• "I agree with Mr. Pelletier," said Councilor Dave Perry. "We can't cut recreation." Councilor Pelletier had just admonished against cutting recreation

• Cutting all municipal capital expenditures (a $340,000 item) was one idea that got floated, with the notion that capital needs might be met from time to time if operational funds freed up.

• 87% of town revenue is already committed, Mr. Wojcik said. The town has grown by 500 people, someone said.