Waterford — The Representative Town Meeting finalized a $95,978,230 budget Thursday night, but not before an outpouring of public comment against a $470,000 cut to the education budget, which was first approved Monday.

The RTM's budget represents an approximately $480,000 decrease from the Board of Finance's recommended budget, almost all of which is coming out of the proposed education budget. The RTM also decreased the Waterford Public Library budget by $3,530 and the Recreation and Parks Departments budget by almost $8,000.

First Selectman Rob Brule had worked with the finance board to cut about $960,000 from the proposed Board of Selectmen budget in an effort to keep taxes flat for residents, many of whom are suffering financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, the RTM signed off on a $34,359,165 general government fund, $7,628,790 for debt service, $2,216,680 in capital improvements and $1,401,280 for capital and nonrecurring. The education budget stands at $50,372,315, down from the $50,842,315 proposed by the finance board.

Madeline Parent, an eighth-grader at Clark Lane Middle School, started a petition this week to keep the education budget from being significantly reduced. It had more than 580 signatures as of Friday evening.

"As an incoming high school student, I am looking forward to the many opportunities provided at Waterford High, including the arts and athletics," Parent wrote in a public comment to the RTM. "I am concerned that this budget cut will impact many people, and will not help people to uphold Waterford's high standard of education."

On Thursday, the RTM responded to public pressure by reconsidering the pared-down education spending plan. Several representatives, including Tim Fioravanti, Steve Elci and Baird Welch-Collins, said they understood the current need to trim the budget but such a deep cut to the school district would be too harsh. They were outnumbered.

Parent told The Day on Friday that she is concerned the budget could impact teachers as well as artistic or extracurricular endeavors.

"I'm thinking about how the cuts may affect laying off teachers as well as possibly hurting the arts and music programs," she said. "They didn't specify where that money was coming from or what it would be pulled out of, but I feel like Waterford has a lot of great programs and extracurriculars. I don't want that to go away."

The Board of Education will be discussing details about possible cuts in the coming weeks, Superintendent Thomas Giard wrote in an email.

The finance board meets on May 20 to set the new mill rate. The budget finalized by the RTM on Thursday most likely will have little impact on next year's mill rate, according to Finance Director Kim Allen. The current rate is 27.98 mills, and she expects a flat mill rate for fiscal year 2020-21.

s.spinella@theday.com