CONCORD, N.H. — Faced with a $5 million budget cut to the state’s juvenile detention center in Manchester, New Hampshire health officials and a legislative working group are at odds over how to best transform parts of the underused facility.

The health department wants to convert half the Sununu Youth Services Center into a psychiatric residential treatment facility. But a legislative working group proposes selling off most of the campus to a nonprofit that will run a youth substance abuse treatment center. Any changes will ultimately require legislative approval.

Budget writers kicked off the debate over the center’s future when they directed the Department of Health and Human Services to cut more than $5 million from the Sununu Center’s two-year budget without specifying how. The center’s population has been steadily declining: 66 of 144 beds were occupied as of this week, and about 50 beds are occupied daily on average. The center houses juveniles between the ages of 11 and 17 who are committed there by the court or need temporary detention.

It is the state’s only secure facility for juvenile delinquents and is often a last resort for troubled youth. On average, teenagers sent there have already gone through six other community placements, according to the state.

Health officials and lawmakers agree that closing the center isn’t a viable option.

“The work group believes that the center provides quality efforts in helping juveniles turn their lives around,” said Sen. David Boutin, the group’s chairman.

They also agree that privatizing some services won’t be enough to meet the budget reduction. Meeting the cuts in the 2017 budget year would require more than 60 layoffs out of 133 jobs, Boutin said. Neither plan would meet the cuts required in this budget cycle.