Montville — The Town Council ended weeks of painstaking deliberations on Tuesday night by approving a budget that will mean no increase in spending for the town’s schools and will likely result in teacher layoffs.

The $55.6 million budget passed by a 6-1 vote, with Councilor Dana McFee casting the lone dissenting vote.

The budget represents an overall increase of 0.3 percent and calls for $36.6 million for schools, $18.3 million for general government and $638,200 in capital improvements.

The budget will deliver a tax rate increase of roughly 8.7 percent. For a homeowner with a property assessment of $170,000, it would mean about another $400 in taxes. The tax rate will be 29.33 mills, a 6.3-mill increase.

A vast majority of the discussion inside the Montville High School auditorium centered on the school budget. The amount the council approved was about $1 million short of what the Board of Education was seeking; Superintendent of Schools Pamela Aubin said recently that a zero spending increase would result in teacher layoffs, although she said not all of the 18 nontenured teachers who received layoff notices would lose their jobs.

Throughout the budget process, some town councilors criticized the school district’s spending habits, including one instance in which it paid $7,164 for five school board members to attend a weekend conference in Boston.

Other residents argued Tuesday for more accountability from the district.

McFee was the lone councilor who tried to muster support for more money for the schools. He failed in an attempt to add an additional $300,000 to the school budget.

“I believe the Board of Ed deserves the money. The fact the people showed up here and voiced that opinion — it’s this council’s obligation to do something,” McFee said in referencing a prior hearing in which more than 30 people pleaded to save teachers from layoffs. “$300,000 would go a long way to keeping the schools staffed properly.”

The budget was complicated by several financial hardships. The town dealt with a loss in tax revenue from the closure of AES Thames, the town’s top taxpayer at more than $1.2 million. And a townwide revaluation of taxable property dropped the grand list by 15 percent.

The town must also make its first payment of $1.35 million to cover the bond it took out to cover the $11.7 million settlement with Rand-Whitney Containerboard.

Mayor Ronald K. McDaniel Jr. said that many town employees realized the grim situation by accepting no raises for the next two years in recent contract negotiations. The mayor said the budget passed was suitable because it called for sacrifice from everyone.

“This year was going to be the tough year. We all saw it on the horizon,” McDaniel said.

The school board will meet Thursday afternoon and is expected to discuss what changes it will make to the school budget.

Some residents also suggested plans to take the budget before voters by circulating a petition that would force a referendum.

jeff.johnson@theday.com