New London — The City Council on Monday approved a $96.29 million budget for fiscal year 2022 that will slightly drop the city’s tax rate for the third year in a row and boost funding for the city’s human services department.

Community members continued an unsuccessful appeal to the council for deep reductions in police department funding and reallocation to areas such as mental health services, recreation and education.

The council’s latest response, however, was not to cut the police budget but rather to move $120,000 into a special account intended to bolster the $627,475 budget for the Human Services Department. The money is taken from recently projected savings in health insurance costs from the police, fire and public works departments. The council shifted $54,000 from the police budget, $39,600 from fire and $26,400 from public works.

Human Services Director Jeanne Milstein is already using $200,000 in her budget to create a Peer Navigator initiative in an attempt to reduce the number of mental-health related calls to police.

Milstein said Monday that additional $120,000 could be used in part for a prevention and educational campaign aimed at ending the stigma attached to issues associated with mental illness and substance abuse. She said money also could be used for a peer youth leadership initiative around mental health and anti-racism training for youth and adults.

“I want to have a community coalition involved with this,” Milstein said.

Councilor Reona Dyess said the community needs support, especially the youth, and her hope is to reach entire families with the boost in resources.

Under questioning during a finance committee meeting prior to the budget vote, Police Chief Peter Reichard bucked calls for reductions to his budget. Councilor James Burke has said his desire was to eliminate the proposed increase in the police budget. The police budget, the largest of any city department at $12.28 million, will rise by $116,046, or 0.95%, under the approved budget.

Reichard said just 1% of the police budget goes toward operations while the rest covers personnel costs that include things like contractual raises and benefits.

Burke eventually voted to approve the budget, a conflicted decision, he said, since his hope was for for his colleagues and mayor to “dig deeper to reimagine public safety in New London.” He applauded the council’s work to boost human services and better fund youth initiatives. In addition to increases in Human Services, the council shifted $242,000 in the budget to sponsor programs run by New London Youth Affairs.

Overall, the $96.29 million proposed budget is a 1.9% increase from the current budget and comprises a $51.8 million general government budget and a $44.5 million education spending plan.

The total city departmental increases are 2.27% and the proposed education budget is a $484,650 or 1.1% increase overall, representing a 2.25% increase in the taxpayer-funded portion of the budget. The education portion of the budget is funded jointly by the state Educational Cost Sharing program and taxpayer funds.

The budget is expected to drop the city's 38.19-mill tax rate by 0.24 mills to 37.95 mills while maintaining an estimated $13.7 million fund balance.

One of most vocal advocates of police budget cuts, Kris Wraight, voiced her disappointment after Monday’s virtual meeting.

“Shame on all of you,” Wraight said. “This is a racist budget.”

Councilor Curtis Goodwin asked that those involved in pushing for changes “remain committed and involved in city government."

This year, many of the calls for police budget cuts and shifts to support the city's marginalized population have come from a coalition calling itself the New London's People's Budget Coalition.

“You guys should all be proud of yourselves. We pushed the needle, something I didn’t see growing up in New London … a council that was this dedicated to being intentional with our city government dollars,” Goodwin said. “I just wanted to take a minute to say you guys are appreciated. You guys are heard. Please remember the fight’s not over.”

g.smith@theday.com