Norwich — Budgets and taxes were the top contentious issues during a forum Tuesday with the 13 City Council candidates, as Republicans claimed they have cut the city tax rate and Democrats countered that approved budgets were dishonest and that property taxes have gone up this year.

The diverse group of candidates includes three council incumbents, Democrat Joseph DeLucia and Republicans Stacy Gould and Bill Nash; two former aldermen, Republican Gerald Martin and Democrat Mark Bettencourt; three former mayoral candidates, Libertarian William Russell, Democrat Derell Wilson and Bettencourt; past council candidate Democrat Zato Kadambaya and five political newcomers, Democrats Shane Roberts and Ella Myles, Republicans John Blackburn and Robert Bell and petitioning candidate Rebecca Melucci.

The forum at Norwich Free Academy’s Slater Auditorium featured questions posed by members of the NFA Debate Club and the NAACP Robertsine Duncan Youth Council and some of the 50 people in the audience.

Budget discussions dominated, including questions about youth recreation programs and city services. The City Council approved a combined city and school budget for 2019-20 totaling $129.9 million with a citywide tax rate of 40.28 mills, down from the 41.01 mills last year, while the central city paid fire tax rose slightly to 7.71 mills. School, fire and police budgets all ended 2018-19 in deficits, and this year’s school budget has a projected $2.26 million deficit, school officials say.

Gould touted the Republican-controlled council’s record on taxes, saying the tax rate is lower than it was in 2015, and the party would continue that effort. She also said the city needs to be more vocal to lobby state and federal governments to increase funding to Norwich for schools, special education and service needs the city sees from being so close to the region’s two casinos.

But Bettencourt and fellow Democrats pushed their platform of “honest budgeting,” claiming Republican budgets give the appearance of cuts, while needing surplus funds to cover the deficits.

Bettencourt said his taxes increased by $400, and citywide residential taxes rose by an average of about $130. Bettencourt said the grand list of property values rose, bringing the tax rate down, but spending continued to rise, he said.

“They did go up,” Bettencourt said of taxes, “and that’s because spending hasn’t gone down. Spending has gone up every single year, because costs go up.”

Several candidates said the city needs better collaboration among the city departments and with the Board of Education. DeLucia directly blamed council Republicans for what he said was a refusal to call for meetings of a new council budget committee — which never met — and the school board’s budget committee to address the school budget.

Libertarian Russell repeatedly pledged to cut taxes and spending, calling Republicans and Democrats “two branches of the same party,” and countering the stance by most candidates that increasing the tax base would bring the city more revenue to spend. Russell said sharply cutting spending and taxes and reducing regulation are the only ways to attract business and residents to Norwich.

Nash said the council has asked the school board and other departments to “cut to the bare bones,” and the only way to fix that is through economic development to provide for the city’s spending needs. He said in his campaigning, residents repeatedly tell him the top issue is “taxes, the taxes are too high.”

Wilson said the collaborations need to start early in the budget year to discuss all department budgets.

“It’s going to take collaborations with departments working with one another to cover the services in order to deal with the spending they are given,” Wilson said.

Myles said there’s no way the city can reduce existing services, because they are all needed. She said there should be more volunteer efforts for neighborhood cleanup or projects to paint or spruce up parks and facilities.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, with the funding in this city,” Blackburn said, “but we have to lower the taxes. The way to do that is we have to lower the mill rate. We have to, and work with the Board of Education. They can’t get 6 percent. We can’t withstand that. They do that all the time. They want pie in the sky. We just can’t afford it.”

Kadambaya also countered Republicans' claims that taxes went down when, in fact, they have increased. He said a strong school system and “responsible budgeting” are the key to both economic development and providing businesses with the skilled workforce they need.

Roberts said economic development is a top priority issue to ease the budget crunch and the “pain” on taxpayers, but Roberts said he sees a “breakdown in communication in the hierarchy” of city government. Streamlined communications would help ensure “we’re getting everything we can out of every aspect that we have.”

Melucci said she decided to run rather than continue to complain, to help find a solution. She said listening and being transparent would help the process.

Bell stressed that the mill rate is down in the city, proving that the city has “more value.” He agreed the city needs more collaboration on budgeting and said: “I am the man for that.”

c.bessette@theday.com