New London — The City Council has called a special meeting for Monday to consider a motion to rescind their vote on what school officials say is a crippling $1 million cut to their proposed budget.

The meeting comes in light of a memorandum issued by the city attorney on Friday that calls the May 15 Board of Finance vote to cut $1 million from the school budget "invalid" and "non-binding."

The opinion by attorney Jeffery Londregan opens the door for the City Council members to rescind their own vote on the school budget and add money back if they choose.

While the five-member Finance Board had a quorum of three members present at its May 15 meeting, just two members — Stephanie Brown and Peter Bergeron — voted to cut the education budget from $41.7 million to $40.7 million. Member Lonnie Braxton had abstained from the vote. All three voted to cut $750,000 from the city government budget.

Subsequently, the City Council approved the second of three readings of the budget with the adjusted figures.

In his opinion, Londregan cites City Charter Section 52, which states that the majority of the members of the Finance Board, or three members, are needed to officially act on a measure.

“As such, the Board of Finance’s recommendation on the Educational budget was not sufficient under the City Charter and of no legal bearing on the City Council,” Londregan wrote in his memo. “It is as if the Board of Finance did not make any recommendation to Council on the Education budget, and the original budgeted amount of $41,720,190 was sent back to the council.”

The City Council members had been under the impression they needed to reduce the budget, since by City Charter they are not allowed to increase the amount approved by the Finance Board without approval of the Appropriating Committee — a 12-member joint committee of the City Council and Finance Board.

Council President Anthony Nolan and Efrain Dominguez were the two council members to vote against the reduced education budget in what was a 4-2 vote.

Nolan said he had questions about the legitimacy of the Finance Board vote from the start and also still is concerned about the $500,000 stripped from the government budget for school maintenance, which amounts to a double blow to the school district.

“We were giving them less than what we were giving them this year,” Nolan said.

Nolan said he can’t predict what the full council will decide Monday but expects discussion about reinstatement of money into the school budget.

“I think we need to have dialogue about the figure,” he said.

Nolan said the council has heard from both sides of the budget argument: those who want to support increased funding for the evolving school district and many others concerned about further tax increases. He also expects discussion Monday on the $750,000 in cuts to the general government budget.

“My opinion is we should work on trying to give the schools some money, whether it’s the million or not. I’m not sure the council will be willing to do that,” Nolan said. “I’d like to see them get at least half of that. It’s hard to make everybody happy.”

g.smith@theday.com