Norwich — For the second straight year, City Council Republicans are asking City Manager John Salomone to cut 5 percent from his proposed $46.69 million city government budget, seeking reductions in each city department.

The council’s majority four Republicans have co-sponsored a resolution on Monday’s council agenda asking Salomone to review his proposed budget and assist the council in “identifying and prioritizing reductions” to the expense budget, as well as trying to find alternative sources of revenue to achieve “a target figure representing a 5 percent expense budget reduction of each department.”

Mayor Peter Nystrom said he met with Salomone on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the request and learned that Salomone already had met with city Comptroller Josh Pothier to discuss the request. Republican Council President Pro Tempore William Nash and Republican Alderwomen Stacy Gould and Joanne Philbrick also co-sponsored it.

Democratic Alderman Joseph DeLucia said Wednesday he agreed the proposed 52-mill tax rate for taxpayers in the paid city fire district is “unacceptable.” But he questioned the concept of setting a percentage cut without examining its impact on residents. He said the council should look at the impacts before the number is set in a resolution.

Nystrom said he envisions a scenario similar to last year, when Salomone presented scenarios with a 3 percent, 4 percent and 5 percent spending cut, showing what positions and programs would be cut at each level. The council ended up approving a 5 percent cut that initially included a controversial plan to cancel swimming at Spaulding Pond in Mohegan Park. The council later restored that funding, but it proved too late to hire lifeguards for the season.

Salomone said Wednesday he plans to come up with scenarios of cuts ranging from 1 to 5 percent. Salomone said he will not recommend increasing fees or adding new fees for services as a means of generating new revenue but will examine existing revenue projections to see if those figures should be boosted based on collection rates.

Asked about the possibility of cutting the Spaulding Pond swimming program — the city already has advertised for lifeguards and a program supervisor — Salomone said, “I hope not.”

Salomone’s presented budget includes Nystrom’s proposal to revive the Sachem Fund — created jointly by the city and the Mohegan tribe in 2007 but unfunded since 2013 — with a $100,000 city contribution. Nystrom acknowledged Wednesday that the proposal already has been cut in half for next year.

Salomone said that cut would be proposed before the 5 percent level.

“With a 5 percent reduction, everything is on the table, and the council will have to pick and choose what their priorities are,” he said.

The City Council will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on Salomone’s initial proposed $126.8 million combined city, school and capital improvements budget. The budget includes $77.7 million for education, a 2 percent increase, $46.69 million city government budget and $2.47 million for capital improvements.

Salomone said he will work on the new request, which won’t be voted on until Monday, in the coming weeks. He plans to present the options to the council by the first week in May, in time for initial budget deliberations at the May 7 council meeting.

c.bessette@theday.com