CARMEL – With the prospects of a scant budget next year, Carmel Town Manager Tom Richmond is already preparing his town for life with a tax cap and perhaps without him.

If Carmel is forced to drop its mill rate from $18 per $1,000 of valuation down to $10 under the tax cap proposal and with $11.50 of the total already composed of school district costs and county taxes, Richmond predicted deep cuts in the town’s operations should the tax cap be approved in November. Under the proposal, property taxes would be capped at 1 percent of their assessed value.

And that could mean leaving one clerk to run the office, instead of four people, and force more responsibility onto the selectmen.

“January 1 we’re out the door and you’re on your own,” Richmond told selectmen bluntly at a regular meeting held at the town office Monday night.

Road repairs would be curbed and plowing sharply reduced in the winter, as the public roads budget would go from $356,100 this year to $63,589 next year should the cap be approved, Richmond said.

With Election Day looming, Richmond wanted to take advantage of provisions in the tax cap proposal that allow municipalities to spend beyond the 10 mills provided they have voter approval at a state election. Richmond asked Carmel selectmen Monday to hold a public hearing on needed projects or purchases such as a new Fire Department pumper tanker, which under the tax cap proposal would need approval by two-thirds of voters at a state election. A hearing would have to be held at least 14 days before the election.

Richmond said town residents also may be asked to take up the issue of paying per bag of garbage removed, instead of the current curbside pickup, which is covered through taxes.

Selectman Suzan Rudnicki said the severe cuts that would have to be made under the tax cap come at a time when the town is making strides in improving its community. The town has beefed up its police coverage and continues a schedule of maintenance on its roads.

“We’ve worked our hearts out,” Rudnicki said after Monday’s selectmen’s meeting.

“This is a no-win situation for small towns,” she said.

Fire Chief Joe Pelletier also wondered what the future holds and admitted it looks grim under the tax cap. Pelletier was told Monday that he would have to run his 22-member volunteer fire department on a budget of $7,200, not much when repairs to a truck could cost twice as much should it break down. The current budget is nearly $41,000, and Pelletier said the tax cap would force him to make some tough decisions, such as whether to give firefighters new training or hepatitis shots for medics working the ambulance.

And he thinks that many small-town fire departments, feeling the financial squeeze, will be reluctant or refuse to send their firefighters to assist other departments in mutual aid to fight a fire.