New London — The City Council on Monday night soundly rejected Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio’s veto of the $43.9 million general government budget the council approved unanimously last month, effectively enacting that budget as law.

All seven councilors voted to override Finizio’s veto, a vote that garnered a standing ovation from about two dozen residents and property owners watching from the gallery.

The budget, which will now become law without mayoral approval, includes $43,919,919 in expenditures on the general government side — about $95,600 less than the current year’s budget — increases overall city and education spending by about 1.3 percent and necessitates a tax rate increase of roughly 3.90 percent.

“The council has fashioned a very responsible budget with unanimous consensus,” Councilor Michael Passero said. “This budget was constructed by seven councilors who have skin in the game and represent the citizens.”

The budget was previously adopted by a unanimous vote of the City Council and earlier readings, or versions, of the budget were also approved unanimously by the council.

“Do I say this is a perfect budget? No,” Council President Wade A. Hyslop said, “but it’s a good budget and I believe that it is a budget that the city can live within.”

Finizio, who did not attend Monday’s meeting, vetoed the council’s budget last week, saying the proposed $43.9 million plan “creates an automatic deficit,” would deplete the city’s fund balance, imperil its bond rating and jeopardize city cash flows, or require drastic cuts to staff and services.

“I will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the city does not run a deficit in the coming year,” the mayor said in a statement after Monday’s council meeting.

Finizio said he will comment further on Tuesday to discuss the actions his administration is prepared to take to avoid a deficit.

The budget process began at the end of March, when Finizio presented the City Council with his proposed budget — a $90.37 million spending plan, which represented $46.6 million for general government, $43.7 million for the Board of Education and a tax rate increase of 12.54 percent.

On May 27, the council unanimously approved the fiscal year 2016 budget that will increase city spending by 1.30 percent and increase the tax rate by about 3.90 percent. It includes $43.9 million in general government expenditures and $42.4 million for the Board of Education.

“We’ve been working hard, we met with people, we’ve gotten information from our Finance Department, we’ve heard from residents who have come to every single meeting that we’ve had and weighed in with their opinion,” Councilor Erica Richardson said. “We looked at the budget in Finance Committee and our council meetings and we were very thoughtful about what we needed to do.”

Before the council’s vote, Finizio told councilors that his administration estimates that the budget underfunds mandated costs by $657,903 and overestimates revenues by $68,489, for a total “built-in” deficit of $726,392.

Finizio signed the Board of Education budget into law, but last week used his veto power — his third veto, all of which the City Council has overridden — instead of signing the general government portion of the city budget.

c.young@theday.com

Twitter: @ColinAYoung