After yet another forum, and daily clusters of sign-holding supporters, the race to fill the unexpired term of resigned selectman Leo Blair is finally coming to a close.

Whoever survives the marathon will face a daunting challenge, joining the remaining selectmen as they struggle, along with the Finance Committee and other town boards, to build budgets that do the least damage possible, while trying to focus on long-term solutions to the pervasive, and growing, structural deficit.

A forum this week raised possibilities of new revenue sources, including a local income tax, but it would be years before the required enabling legislation—and perhaps constitutional amendments—could be achieved. For the foreseeable future, budgets will be built as they have been for years, from available state and local revenue sources, combined with property taxes, to support spending and capital investment to operate municipal services and schools.

It seems inevitable that the deficit has reached the point where taking little bites out of every department’s budget won’t make things balance. There will either need to be major cuts—possibly even complete elimination of some services—or a large override, or both. It would be nice if picking the right selectman would make the problem go away, but it won’t. The selectman race has been an interesting diversion, but now it’s time to get back to the business at hand.