LAKEVILLE — Four firefighter positions could be cut from next year’s Lakeville budget as the town tackles several fiscal challenges, Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth told the Select Board at their March 31 meeting.

The firefighter positions had been funded with federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act, often known as ARPA. Those funds run out in July, Sukeforth said.

About $140,000 would be saved by cutting the firefighter positions, Sukeforth said. This figure factors in added overtime and unemployment costs that would be incurred with the loss of four employees.

The town is “still pretty early on’’ in the budget process, he said, and hopes to save the positions. But “it will be very difficult to do that,’’ Sukeforth noted.

Financial challenges are being faced on several fronts, Sukeforth explained. State aid is declining, with a drop of $325,000 for next year. New growth, such as added businesses that bring in more tax revenue, is limited.

But the biggest issue, he said, is an increase in fixed costs, such as retirement, health insurance and liability expenses. They have been climbing for several years, he said, and that is likely to continue.

The town is already using $364,000 in free cash, which is surplus revenue from previous budgets, to fund some of next year’s costs, Sukeforth said.

Select Board Member Lia Fabian said she would like to see “a lot of numbers’’ to learn more about possible ways to preserve the positions. “This is extremely important to me,’’ she said.

Finance Committee member Barbara Mancovsky said that losing the firefighters also means losing "institutional knowledge’’ and noted that "these people committed to working for our town.’’ 

This budget challenge underscores the need for new growth that would increase revenue to the town, Fabian said. She referenced the warehouse project that was proposed for the former Lakeville Hospital site but was rejected by voters.

“No one wants a warehouse,’’ she said, but the project would have been a source of revenue. “Rural communities used to be cheap,’’ she said. “Now they’re not.’’

Three possible ways to increase revenue were discussed. Adding a local meals tax of .75 percent could bring in about $70,000, select board member Maureen Candito said. 

The town had previously rejected such a tax, arguing that it would add a burden that neighboring towns did not do. But now, Candito noted, nearly all area communities have such a tax.

Increasing EMS fees and adding a short-term rental tax for temporary rentals such as bed and breakfast facilities and summer rentals are also possibilities but would need more discussion, Sukeforth said.