MILO – Regardless of where the fault lies for a shortfall in the Police Department budget, residents are faced with either funding the difference or scaling down some of the department’s activities.

That was the message conveyed Thursday by selectmen to more than 50 residents who attended a public hearing to discuss proposed warrant articles for the 6 p.m. Sept. 25 special town meeting.

At next week’s town meeting, residents also will act on the transfer of the Penquis Animal Welfare Sanctuary building on Clinton Street without cost to the new sanctuary corporation.

A request to allow funds generated by the recreation department through its concession sales and other fundraising activities to be used by that department also will need voter attention.

It was the Police Department’s request for an additional $35,837 from the town’s surplus account to finish the year and just how the shortfall slipped through the cracks that generated the most discussion Thursday.

“Let’s all take the blame and bite the bullet,” resident Sandi Barton said Thursday.

Residents were told a special investigation helped drain the Police Department budget. That drug investigation, which led to some arrests, cost $12,000 to $15,000, according to Police Chief Michael Poulin.

Nor did it help when one of the local police officers, who was sent to the training academy, quit to join the Maine State Police, according to Poulin. Per state law, the state police must reimburse the town the $28,000 cost for the training that was approved during a special town meeting. Poulin said he was told by Town Manager Jane Jones he could use these funds, since unanticipated revenue typically lapsed into the associated accounts.

But town officials have since learned that these unanticipated funds should be placed in the general fund.

Poulin said he had recently asked the state police when the town could expect its reimbursement, only to discover that Jones had not submitted the bill. He said the bill has now been sent and he was assured the town would receive the money in two weeks.

Some residents voiced concern Thursday about the additional funding request because of the town’s financial position. They pointed out that the surplus account has dwindled to $93,000, an amount already considered too low by the town’s auditor. They also noted that other accounts are expected to be overspent and to require additional funds later in the year. The town also is facing one lawsuit and another is expected to be filed against the town in the near future.

Selectman Jerry Brown, who is acting town manager while Jones is out on administrative leave, said that whatever residents decide next week, the board will support. He said the board will “micromanage” the department throughout the rest of the year through the budgetary process.