As the fiscal year ends over at the Boston Herald, there’s serious anxiety at One Herald Square. More cuts are widely anticipated, but no one knows how deep and how broad those cuts will be.

“You bet we’re alive — and kicking!”, the Herald’s front page proudly declared last month after announcing that publisher Pat Purcell had saved his troubled tabloid by dealing off his Community Newspaper Company (CNC) empire. Even then, however, observers speculated Purcell would need more savings to keep the paper afloat. And now, the rubber is about to meet the road. (Purcell did not respond to a call seeking comment.)

Much of the current speculation has centered on major slashing in the paper’s features and arts department, which currently employs about a dozen staffers, including editors. (The Herald might be willing to sacrifice some arts reporting, but it has made a pretty serious investment in pop-culture coverage.) And the news department — hit hard by last year’s departure of about 45 newsroom staffers and ensuing attrition — is already down to about 10 reporters and seven editors.

With the green-eyeshade types now finishing work on the new budget, the latest word is that while cuts will come — and one of them may include the elimination of one of the paper’s three editions — they will not be catastrophic, they will be spread around, and they will not eradicate the features and arts section.

ADVERTISEMENT

But it’s worth stressing that this scenario represents current conventional wisdom. Until Purcell unveils his plan, no one can be certain where the ax will fall.