FOXBORO

The new year threatens to deliver a bruising kick in the town's wallet.

A partial list of decisions to be made or commitments to be delivered on include expanding the sewer system, renovating the high school, repairing dams, providing services to the two-headed mall at Gillette Stadium, planning to eventually vacate and renovate town hall and covering the rising costs of energy, employee health insurance and pension assessments.

Police and fire contracts also are still in negotiation.

Pass the aspirin, Town Manager Andrew Gala might want to say. "We have a lot of work to do," he did say.

The town budget draft for next fiscal year stands $2.8 million out balance, Gala told selectmen in mid-December. State aid may be level funded or even reduced, he said.

Last June, town meeting narrowly rejected a $25 million sewer expansion plan.

"This is by no means dead," water and sewer Commissioner William Euerle said at the time. He was right.

The commission is working on a revised sewer proposal to present to the annual town meeting in May, water and sewer Superintendent Leo Potter said.

The Bureau of Dam Safety has ordered the repair of five town-owned dams, with the Upper Reservoir/Carpenter dam most in need work. The town has money for design and permitting, but the construction is not yet funded.

A $12.9 million renovation of Foxboro High School remains a candidate for aid through the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Even if that support comes through, the town will have to pay a share of the project.

"I see this as a real cooperative venture between the school and the town to renovate one of the premier buildings in the town," Superintendent Christopher Martes said.

The new public safety building opened Nov. 15. Foxboro this spring will likely put the old firehouse on the market, Gala said. That money will be put towards the repair of Town Hall after 2008. Because the Town Hall attic contains lead dust vented for decades from the firing range in the former police station downstairs, Town Hall will have to be vacated for months during renovations.

Patriot Place mall is expected to bring in more tax revenue - but it is also placing new demands on police, fire, health, inspection and other services. Gala said it's his understanding that the two-section mall is to be fully occupied by the end of 2008.

Both the police and fire departments added professional staff this year, and will add more staff next year. Patriot Place impact mitigation money will cover the first-year salary and benefits of the new public safety hires, but other departments remain short staffed with no immediate relief in sight, Gala said.

The School Committee in December approved sets of goals for the superintendent and for the committee itself. The goals include communication, student achievement and financial management.

Martes, like Gala, said the foremost challenge will be budgetary.

"I'm just sensing at the state and the town level that the budget is going to be a challenge," Martes said. The rising costs of such necessities as energy and employee health insurance "are not going to allow people to offer the kinds of services that they are offering now," he said. "I hope I'm wrong."