Norwich — Residents will get the chance to comment on City Manager John Salomone’s proposed $128.9 million combined city and school budget Thursday during the City Council’s first public hearing at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Salomone presented his budget proposal to the City Council on April 1, and the City Council has been meeting with department heads in budget workshops for the past week to review specific budget requests before possibly adjusting and voting on a final city budget.

Although the proposed budget calls for a 2.4 percent overall spending increase, taxes would drop slightly in both the central city paid fire district and the five volunteer fire districts. A 6.8 percent increase in the city’s grand list of taxable properties and revenue growth from city investments helped contribute to the proposed tax decrease of 1 mill citywide and 0.29 mill in the central city fire district.

But Salomone’s proposal contains a 2 percent spending increase for the school budget, to a total of $80.04 million — $3 million less than the school board has requested for next year. The current school budget of $78.469 million is expected to have a deficit of $2.4 million by the end of the budget year in June.