Norwich - After several split votes on contentious proposed budget cuts, the City Council reduced the number of city layoffs and added $150,000 to the school budget Monday, approving a $116.3 million total combined city and school budget.

Without discussion, aldermen refused to consider several controversial cuts proposed last week, including merging recreation and senior citizen director positions and eliminating the emergency management director.

But in split 5-2 and 4-3 votes, aldermen did eliminate one Human Services Department case worker position, but delayed the cut to the end of next March, and eliminated one part-time fire code clerk position and one Human Service Department account clerk at the end of September.

The final combined city and school budget of $116.3 million requires a tax rate of 27.23 mills citywide, a 2.6 percent tax increase. Property owners in the central city fire district would pay an additional 5.04 mills, while the volunteer fire district tax rate is 0.36 mills.

Editor's note: The following three paragraphs have been corrected from the original version.

Alderman and mayoral candidate Charles Jaskiewicz prefaced all of his votes against the budget by saying he objected to laying off current employees while funding several vacant positions – nine police positions and one Public Works Department laborer.

Aldermen voted 5-2, with Jaskiewicz and Alderman Mark Bettencourt opposed, to put off hiring four of the vacant police officer positions for the budget, but not eliminate them. The savings would be $290,000 including benefits.

The council kept intact nine of the current 13 vacant police positions in the budget, allowing the department to fill those vacancies.

Alderwoman and mayoral candidate Deberey Hinchey said the council had to maintain support for the five-year public safety plan that emphasized community policing. Quoting crime statistics, Hinchey said the plan is working.

Jaskiewicz responded that lower crime rates meant the department was doing well with current staffing and could forego the vacant positions.

The council debated twice whether to add money to the $70.3 million school budget, with only Mayor Peter Nystrom, Bettencourt and Jaskiewicz supporting a proposed $300,000 increase. Aldermen voted 4-3 to add $150,000 to the school budget instead.

The Board of Education had submitted a budget that had no increase for the prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade public school system, but the board asked the council for a $1.5 million increase to cover the Norwich Free Academy tuition increase.

Superintendent Abby Dolliver said she could not say what the final budget vote will mean for school staffing cuts. Aldermen said they would support removing some capital items from the school budget and adding them to a proposed capital bond. But Dolliver said she could not count on those savings until the council makes the bonding decision at a future meeting.

Prior to the budget decisions, residents and city employees whose jobs were slated for elimination spoke for a half hour mostly urging aldermen to avoid the drastic budget cuts to education, senior programs and city building and planning offices.

Derrell Wilson, leader of the NAACP youth group, said he talks to other local youths and "they're nervous." Wilson graduated NFA three years ago and said already, the public school system doesn't have many of the programs he enjoyed, including world languages and after-school programs.

"This budget doesn't just reflect one year, but a lifetime of opportunities," Wilson said.

c.bessette@theday.com