Norwich — Vocal opposition to proposed cuts to the city and school budgets was partially successful Monday night, as aldermen rejected a plan to cut a Human Services caseworker, kept the school budget at a 2 percent increase and scaled back by half a cut in the Otis Library budget.

The council voted on budget cuts line by line late Monday following nearly two hours of public comment, mostly opposing cuts some called “embarrassing” and "draconian.”

The three-hour budget deliberation resulted in an overall cut to the combined city and school budget of $197,447, trimming 0.13 mill from City Manager John Salomone's initial proposed $123.9 million budget.

With the changes, the proposed budget would mean a citywide tax increase of 0.6 mill.

A second public hearing on the budget will be held at 6:30 p.m. next Monday at City Hall.

Aldermen at times voted along party lines, with the five Republicans supporting cutting two clerk positions — one from the assessor's and one from city clerk's office — while the two Democrats opposed the cuts.

The council also voted 5-2 along party lines to eliminate a vacant firefighter position from the central city fire department.

The cut dropped the central city fire tax by 0.14 mill to 6.99 mills.

Other vote tallies varied.

Aldermen rejected Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick's proposal to cut $740,000 from the proposed school budget, leaving it with a 1 percent increase over this year.

Philbrick conceded defeat, and joined the council's unanimous vote against the cut.

Salomone proposed a 2 percent school budget increase to $75.48 million, while the Board of Education had requested a 6.2 percent increase, mostly to cover high school and special education tuition and health insurance costs.

Several speakers, including Republican school board Vice Chairman Dennis Slopak, opposed the school budget cut.

Slopak listed concessions by school employee unions dating back three and four years and said school employees pay twice the co-payments for health insurance as other city employees.

“If you do this, I will be ashamed of each and every one of you,” Slopak said of Philbrick's proposal.

After the vote, Republican Alderman William Nash attempted to raise the school budget by $518,000 to absorb the tuition increase for Norwich Free Academy, but the proposal failed 4-3.

Aldermen also voted 4-3 to preserve the Human Services caseworker position after city staff and representatives from nonprofit social service agencies and one church strongly objected to the cut.

They argued that the caseworker more than made up for the salary by bringing grant money, fuel assistance and rental assistance funding to the city.

Human Services Director Lee Ann Gomes said that funding would go to landlords and utility companies in Hartford or New Haven if Norwich had no staff to administer rental and fuel assistance.

Norwich Human Services works closely with Reliance House, local churches and other entities to provide services and reduce duplication, speakers told the council.

Chantel Gibson, a homeless outreach worker at Reliance House, said her agency, too, has seen staffing and budget cuts.

“I have been a witness to the amazing services they provide,” Gibson said.

The vote drew applause from many of the more than 100 people in the room, who stayed late to hear the budget result.

The dozens of Otis Library supporters were only partly appeased when the council reduced the proposed library cut to $67,000.

The Republicans' proposed $130,000 cut drew sharp public criticism as it came just one week after Otis was named one of the top five libraries in the nation, receiving a 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Services.

Aldermen voted unanimously to approve Republican Alderman Jerry Martin's suggestion to scale back the cut.

c.bessette@theday.com