Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

I was going to post my thoughts on reducing expenditures and it appears my opponent has beaten me to the punch. I bring this up from the comments to this post as it pretty much says what I would post in this regard.
In comments, Kathleen says:
Bill,
Our primary fiscal problems are due to our inability to raise revenue each year of more than 2 1/2 percent to meet expenses which are rising more than 2 1/2 percent each year. This problem is State-wide and if it hasn't already, will effect all communities in the State of Massachusetts. In addition to this problems,our ability to raise revenue through new growth has leveled off.......
......Along with the many other measures the Selectboard has taken to deal with this financial crises, the Selectboard and Finance Committee have worked diligently to revamp how the financial business of the Town is conducted. One of these principles adopted by the Selectboard and the Finance Committee is to a more forward looking process of budgeting, looking at our projected revenue for years to come and bringing our projected expenditures in line with what that revenue will be. The problem is, under this analysis, and after cutting all that we possibly can cut, what will be reduced are some of the fundamental services the Town has historically offered. So, absent some intervention from the State to assist all Towns dealing with this financial crises, it will be up to the voter's in the Town to determine what services they would like to fund and what type of community they desire in the future.
Bold emphasis added by me
To which Bill T (me) replied,
Bravo, Kathleen! You have nailed it....
.....Now we need to set the priorities for what we will fund first and get to work on cutting the services with the lowest priority. We also need to let the townspeople know what the situation is in clear, unambiguous terms. The Finance Committee, Budget and Revenue Task Force, and others will be happy to lend credence to this effort, I am sure of that. Let's get started forthwith.
We cannot continue the current level of services without serial overrides or growth which the town doesn't want. The reverse budgeting process will aid us in our discussions by showing what we have to work with going forward. As the Select Board indicated at their last meeting, police have a higher priority than libraries. The Select Board needs to direct the administrators on the priorities to be considered in making these cuts. Let's focus on that in your Tuesday sessions. Will you commit to trying to move the board in that direction, Kathleen?
I am sure that neither Kathleen or I want to cut services. The unfortunate reality is that there is no choice. As I see it, the remaining choices are these. Do we cut the services, reconcile our expenses and revenue, and then restore those services later if and when we have the revenue, or do we pass overrides in the interim to maintain some services as we restructure our expenses to be in line with our revenue?
If we had had the tools in place, such as the foward looking budget process, or had heeded the lonely cries in the wilderness from the Finance Committee earlier, we may have been able to mitigate at least some of the coming pain. That's water over the dam now. Let's start our discussion of how to proceed in the comments below.