With the date and, more important, the amount of the Proposition 2 1/2 override set – June 14 and $2 million – members of the Board of Selectmen at their May 7 meeting began reviling the genesis of a strategy they believe will open residents to supporting the measure at the ballot boxes in five weeks.

The Selectmen will face the public on May 13 and 20 at forum the Beech Street Center to discuss the fiscal year 2011 budgets. According Chairman Chris Jones, the three groups in town that the override money is targeted – $1 million for schools, $400,000 to town services and infusion of $600,000 in the capital budget - must present "a united front" before the public, said Jones.

But rather than allow the meetings to become a numbers game, it is up to the town and schools to indicate the real word implications of the town operating under an "available" budget (spending the amount expected from town revenues) and with the override funds.

For Jones, the public must know that the available budget "will be bare bones" with an impact that will hamper public safety "and could put some departments on the borderline to elimination."

Jones pointed to the preliminary results of how the town will spend the $600,000 allocated from the $2 million override.

According to preliminary calculations, $133,000 of the $600,000 will be provided to reappoint two police officers, $83,000 for two firefighter, $82,000 for two public work positions, $50,000 in health insurance, $14,800 for the resumption of Sunday library service and the remaining funds for town services.

Yet rather than simply show the number of jobs added or saved, Jones said the additional funding allows for "the restoration" of public programs and services that people have advocated.

"I want to see it not as two new police but what services is returned," said Jones, equating the money as bringing more patrols, a greater sense of safety and security to the public.

Before the two Selectmen-sponsored public meetings, "we've got to know these (budget) numbers," said Jones.

The possible tactics to minimize opposition to the override is leading to the cosmetic with Assistant Town Administrator Jeffery Conti suggested renaming "fringe" benefits to "mandatory" benefits.

It would not be advisable for people to get the mistaken notion that the town is providing extraordinary benefits that are at the fringe of what is normal, said Conti.