RUTLAND – Fol­low­ing a failed Pro­pos­i­tion 21⁄2 tax cap over­ride vote this month, the town’s pub­lic safety response will suf­fer “hor­rendously,” said Rut­land police and fire union lead­ers.

The town’s Fourth of July fest­iv­it­ies also face uncer­tainty, accord­ing to union lead­ers, who said their depart­ments may not be able to staff events as a res­ult of the over­ride.

The vote, which would have over­rode Pro­pos­i­tion 21⁄2 to help cover a pro­jec­ted $3.1 mil­lion defi­cit for the next fiscal year, fell short at the town elec­tion May 11, after res­id­ents were given three options to cover the defi­cit.

Four full-time and three part-time police officers are expec­ted to be cut from the Police Depart­ment, while the Fire Depart­ment could trim about a third of its force.

“This has been det­ri­mental to the mor­ale and no one is happy about this,” said Brent A. Car­penter, of the Rut­land’s police union. “We’re going to have huge safety con­cerns. It’s just dis­ap­point­ing.”

Car­penter said that the cuts to the depart­ment would include the loss of the K-9 and acci­dent recon­struc­tion units, as well as night-shift staff­ing.

He said the staff­ing cuts will be reflec­ted in the ser­vices to the pub­lic, which would be “a secur­ity issue at this point.”

“[Officers are] going to be solo and rely­ing on out­side agen­cies,” Car­penter said. “There will be a delay in ser­vice where if you have mul­tiple calls com­ing in at once, we have to take the pri­or­ity calls.

“Obvi­ously the people have spoken. We get it – nobody likes their taxes raised.”

Car­penter said cuts to staff could also bring about issues with recruit­ment.