BROCKTON, Mass. -- Many local communities are facing difficult choices in the tough economy. The city of Brockton is finding itself in a deep financial hole.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported Tuesday that the city is facing a $28 million deficit, and that could mean 300 layoffs of city employees -- 180 of them police and fire personnel.

"I would have to strip a number of divisions right down to bare bones -- detective division would probably just have a few detectives. We'd take officers out of the schools. We'd take officers away from traffic patrol," Brockton Police Department Chief William Conlon said.

Mayor James Harrington said that he is asking city employee unions for major concessions as a way to lessen the blow.

"If we were ever required to make the cuts in public safety that we are, you know, I think it would threaten the fact that people would want to live here. They would be afraid to live here," he said.

Through the U.S. Conference of Mayors Harrington had put together a wish list of things to be paid for by money through the federal stimulus package. They included a new $27 million public safety building for police and fire that would have provided 100 construction jobs, $13.5 million in renovations for Brockton High School that would have created 120 jobs and $56 million for combined street repairs, creating nearly 600 jobs.

"There was supposed to be some money in there for police and fire that we could use desperately. There is equipment that we could use desperately. Any money that we got could help us keep the city going forward," Harrington said.

The federal money is now going to be given to the states to distribute. Harrington said that he knows his wish list is all but gone.