BEVERLY — The ill will between Mayor Bill Scanlon and challenger John Burke was on stage for all to see last night.

The first and only debate between the two mayoral candidates ended in a cascade of boos when Scanlon refused to shake Burke's outstretched hand after the debate and walked off stage.

As many of the approximately 250 people packed into the Centerville Improvement Society hall hooted their disapproval, Scanlon held up his hand to explain his actions.

Scanlon could not be heard over the noise. Asked afterward what he was trying to say, Scanlon said, "I told John Burke a couple of years ago that I couldn't shake his hand because it means something." He called Burke's attempt to shake his hand a "grandstand effort."

Burke said he wasn't surprised at Scanlon's snub.

"I'm trying to debate him on the issues, but for him it's always personal," Burke said. "People are either with him or against him."

The handshake controversy came at the end of a debate that was contentious but not as personal as some expected. On Monday, the Scanlon campaign launched a new Web site attacking Burke, including accusations that Burke, who lived with foster families as a teenager, "terrorized" one of those families and threatened to burn down a house.

Burke raised the issue in his opening statement, saying Scanlon prefers to "attack his opponent." But then he added, "None of you are here to talk about my foster care experience."

Scanlon, who has previously mentioned that Burke's foster family took out a restraining order against him when Burke was 17, did not bring up the subject during the debate.

Instead, Scanlon skewered Burke, a 30-year-old three-term city councilor, as someone with no experience managing a budget "beyond his monthly rent and personal expenses."

"What we have today could easily be lost tomorrow if the management of this city is left in inexperienced, untested hands," Scanlon said. "It's not worth that risk."

Burke said Scanlon was employing "scare tactics" and touted his two master's degrees from Suffolk University, including one in public administration, "the degree the Massachusetts Municipal Association recommends for city and town managers."

Burke blasted Scanlon, who has been mayor for 14 years, for what he called his "years of mismanagement," accusing him of running up the city's debt and spending "like a drunken sailor."

"Any old fool can borrow and spend like that," he said.

Scanlon countered that the city's debt is below the state average. He said he turned the city's finances around from the "brink of receivership" when he first took over and has overseen the renovation of the city's elementary schools, parks and playgrounds and has fixed chronic flooding problems.

The candidates also sparred over the $80 million high school project, which is halfway to completion. Burke, who voted against the project, said the city cannot afford it.

"Would you build a brand-new house after 40 years, after you've paid off the mortgage?" he said.

Scanlon countered that the high school would have lost its accreditation due to the building's poor condition, a move that would have "clobbered the value of every home in the city."

In response to a question about the candidates' relationship with the City Council, Scanlon brought up the council's vote two years ago to censure Burke over an anonymous letter he wrote criticizing the Police Department.

"I don't know of anyone else in my time or perhaps ever who has been censured by the council," Scanlon said.

"Nobody else has spoken out like I have," Burke said.

In his closing statement, Burke held up a list of Scanlon's campaign contributors, saying a Scanlon administration is a government "of lawyers, for bankers and by developers."

Scanlon closed by comparing a mayor to a chief executive of a major corporation and called voters' decision in Tuesday's election "serious business." He asked voters to return him to "the work I love."

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by e-mail at pleighton@salemnews.com.