As the dust settles from the recent override campaign, it is clear that Newton has two choices for moving forward. Newton can accept the literal results of the override or, as we advocate here, Newton can seek a middle ground that might better reflect the voters’ intentions and better serve our city.

We approach this task from opposite sides of the override election: Geoff campaigned for the YES side, and Steve campaigned equally for the NO side. We have found that in spite of the polarities of our votes, we are in agreement on most considerations. Especially, we agree that it’s possible and desirable to act now to protect our schools and neighborhoods from significant damage through the judicious deployment of a tiny portion of our reserves. This deployment should occur while we explore every avenue to solve the financial and operational problems facing us. The Citizens Advisory Group is part of this effort and has our full support.

Central to the override debate was the question of how to address the funding gap, the so-called “structural deficit.” The remedy proposed by the YES side was to bridge the gap with a tax increase, while the NO side argued for cuts and efficiencies and pointed to the more than $20 million of reserves available for use.

We are convinced that a majority of YES and NO voters are not on board with the complete set of cuts proposed before the override failure; rather, they would ask that the city do the best it can with all of the tools at its disposal.

We fear that if Newton cuts classroom teachers and police officers as much as projected, we will begin to visibly affect the quality of our schools and our neighborhoods and Newton’s excellent reputation may well suffer. A compromised reputation may take years to repair and will likely damage another feature we hold dear — our high property values. Clearly, an excellent school system and safe neighborhoods are vital assets we need to protect. YES and NO voters agree on this.

We believe that the key to a solution is the judicious use of reserve funds. This is the middle ground between using none of our reserves and depleting them too much. It would curtail the worst damage to our assets while we work extremely hard to attack root causes of the structural deficit.

How much of Newton’s reserve funds would we need to protect us from the worst damage to city assets? On the school side of the budget, we believe that around $550,000 — or just 3 percent of our current main reserve fund — would be sufficient to fund 11 elementary school teachers, significantly reducing the pressure of growing class sizes. On the city-side of the budget, a reasonable amount has not yet been determined by the Board of Aldermen, but it may well be similar in size. The remarkable fact is that these outlays from the city’s reserve fund will be replaced four-five times over by the $4.8 million in capital project reimbursements that Newton will receive from the state in this next fiscal year. So our reserve fund will grow despite these outlays.

Surely such a minimal use of our reserve funds is reasonable and prudent. In fact, what are reserves for, if not to be wisely used in a time of fiscal crisis? It is in such times that we need temporary relief while we get our financial house in order.

One can hardly imagine that deploying this small portion of reserves would run counter to good practice in view of the benefit returned. However, our city leaders have expressed worry about a possible future impact on our bond rating. Although this seems unlikely, the reality is that the difference in interest we’d pay on bonds is a tenth of a percent or less if our rating falls from AAA to AA. While the highest bond rating is a point of pride for our city managers, the financial impact of a rating reduction on our borrowing costs would be extremely small. People come to Newton for the good schools and the safe neighborhoods. Few come for the AAA bond rating.

We should not sit pat as the wave of cuts triggered by the override failure bears down upon us. The judicious use of a small portion of reserves offers a reasonable way to mitigate the most obvious harm about to be done to our school system and city services.

This is our first chance to show that we have what it takes to rapidly adjust to the difficulties we face.

The voters in the override referendum didn’t say “Do nothing.” They said “Do better,” and one way to do that is with some of our reserve funds. This is the middle ground. Let’s capture it, together.

Geoff Epstein is the Ward 1 School Committee representative. He and Steve Siegel are long-time Newton residents, business owners and parents of Newton school children.