WOONSOCKET — With officials raising the possibility of laying off as many as a third of the community’s police officers and firefighters, the City Council and representatives of Mayor Susan D. Menard met in closed session for about three hours Monday night to ponder a response to the expected loss of $3.2 million in non-school state aid.

Leaders of the police and fire unions said Menard has told them that, unless they make contract concessions in areas including health benefits, the city may have to lay off about 30 of the 99 police union members and 45 of 132 firefighters union members to balance the city’s $116-million budget.

Union leaders in both departments said cuts of that magnitude would be devastating.

“It’s a tragedy waiting to happen,” Steven R. Reilly, president of the Woonsocket Firefighters Association — Local 732 of the International Association of Fire Fighters — said after addressing the council Monday night.

“I’ve got people here wondering if they have a job,” said Sgt. John Scully, president of Local 404, International Brotherhood of Police Officers.

Councilman John F. Ward, who has not shied from criticizing Menard in the past, said after the meeting that the crisis was real and not a bargaining stunt.

“The mayor does a lot of things that are grandstanding,” Ward said. “This is not one of them. To her credit, this is confronting, face to face, a problem and dealing with it before you can’t deal with it.”

Menard says she has been quietly advised that the state will announce the $3.2-million cut next week, as a consequence of dwindling state revenues.

Planning and Development Director Joel Mathews said it was important to begin working on how to deal with the loss now, with six months still left in the budget year.

“$3.2 million is easier to make up in six months than in two or three,” Mathews said. “And a supplemental tax bill is not an option anyone is willing to consider.”

The administration has a plan for closing the gap, Mathews told the council. Because the plan involves persuading the unions to make givebacks, he said, he would not discuss the specifics in public for fear of revealing the city’s bargaining strategy.

Ward did not comment on the specifics of the mayor’s plan beyond saying that even the best scenario will be unpleasant.

“There is almost nothing rational that can be done to save $3.2 million,” he said.

The problem is being made worse by the poor relationship between the Menard administration and the police and fire unions. Monday night’s meeting was an example, with the council conference room packed with more than 90 police and firefighters, whose leaders pressed the council for a chance to meet because, they said, they feared Menard would not accurately describe concession offers already made.

Ward said while the bad blood between unions and the administration would complicate matters, the reality of the city’s finances would create its own clarity.

“Trust becomes a non-issue once you are confronted with cold hard facts,” Ward said. “And $3.2 million is a very cold and hard fact.”

jhill@projo.com