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BOSTON - In his 25 years of balancing budgets, East Bridgewater Town Administrator George Samia has never seen the kind of lingering financial squeeze he has faced since 2003.

Unlike the usual cycle of economic peaks and valleys, Samia says municipal finances have been slipping for almost a decade and look to get worse before they get better.

"Things used to swing like a pendulum - usually a three-year downturn and the fourth year we'd start to come back out of it," Samia said. "What we're facing today has been going for five years and we still don't appear to be at a good particular moment. Next year and the year after aren't looking good."

East Bridgewater is among a growing number of cities and towns that are struggling to balance impossible budgets. With rising costs and stagnant revenues, they are cutting police officers, fire fighters, teachers and services to get to a balanced bottom line:

Schools

Schools across the state have been making discretionary cuts in programs, such as the arts. Others have eliminated sports or now rely on parental contributions. For some, such cuts are not enough.

Beverly school officials plan to lay off 61 teachers and close two elementary schools.

Fitchburg has cut more than 170 of the city's 850 school positions since 2004 - 50 of them during the last year.

The Franklin School Department plans to lay off 45 staff is the subject of a $2.8 million Proposition 2 1/2 override that will be voted on June 10.

Lowell has tried to cut expenses by closing the 156-year-old, 200-student Varnum Literacy and Arts Elementary School. Still, the city's school budget looks to be $2 million short.

Randolph is facing receivership by the state Board of Education for the town's poor performance after being declared an "underperforming school district" last fall.

Police

Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said that personnel cuts have left police forces around the state down by about 10 percent.

Despite one of the most violent periods in Brockton's recent history, a looming deficit as high as $10 million means the city can't afford to replace 15 police officers who retired from a 196-person force in the last two years.

Newton has cut training and prevention programs. "The police department is absolutely being asked to do more with less," said Jeremy Solomon, a spokesman for Mayor David Cohen. "Because of the poor economy, communities are reducing budgets and cutting the police," Sampson said. "But what people don't often realize is that during such times, crime increases because people are more desperate."

Fire

The Rockland Fire Department laid off four firefighters, reducing the department to 24. In Marshfield, one or two firefighters will be laid off this year, following four cuts last year to 50 remaining firefighters.

In Franklin, a $119,713 increase in firefighter salaries doesn't offset cuts in overtime, on-call time and vacation/illness relief totaling $141,813.

Town Services

Easton Public Works Director Wayne Southworth said roads throughout the state are getting neglected.

Cities and towns are trimming budgets as the cost of petroleum-based products needed for repairs skyrockets. The price of asphalt has doubled in recent years.

"The entire roadway system is in desperate need of additional money to maintain it," Southworth said. "There are many bridges around the commonwealth that are just desperate for repairs and it would be impossible for cities and towns to come up with the money on their own."

On April 9, Gov. Deval Patrick proposed a $4 billion bridge repair allocation to reopen closed roads and meet minimum safety requirements.

Patrick also wants to budget up to $8 million in funding for new police officers, but cities and towns must independently pay to keep the officers employed after the first year. Districts short on cash have no choice but to turn down matching grants that would provide them with the officers they desperately need.

"We wish that we were getting money to hire more officers," Brockton Police Chief William Conlon said. "We need them."