Norwich ― With only minor changes made thus far to the city manager’s proposed budget, few residents spoke at Monday’s second budget public hearing, with regular commenters asking aldermen to make cuts and reduce the tax rate, which for center city paid fire tax property owners would by 48.45 mills starting July 1.

Resident William Blake, who lives in the central city paid fire tax district, complained about the controversial new policy of having the paid fire department automatically respond to fires in the volunteer district. Blake said it is unfair to have central city taxpayers carry the load to provide paid fire services to the volunteer districts.

The city enacted an automatic aid policy in November that calls for the paid fire department to respond to all structure fires and some other emergencies in the volunteer districts, and for the closest volunteer department to respond to structure fires in the central city district.

Resident Joanne Philbrick called the apathy demonstrated by the sparse attendance Monday appalling. She cited the city’s poverty and said the budget should concentrate on public safety and school funding, reducing spending in other areas. Rodney Bowie, another regular at City Council meetings, urged the council not to mistake Monday’s lack of attendance for satisfaction. He said people don’t come, because they feel the council is not listening to them.

City Manager John Salomone on April 3 proposed a city government budget totaling $48.1 million, a $2.6 million, 5.82% increase over this year; a school budget total of $88.9 million, a $2.1 million, 2.5% increase; debt service total of $4.29 million, a $738,045, 20% increase and a capital improvements budget of $2.77 million, a 1% increase.

The school board had requested $92.8 million for next year, a 6.98% increase. The debt service budget includes the first payment on the $385 million school reconstruction project approved by voters in November.

Salomone last week proposed several budget cuts that would have eliminated filling some vacant positions, including not filling a vacant police officer position, an emergency dispatcher, a Public Works Department laborer and a senior center coordinator. But the City Council rejected those cuts.

According to city Comptroller Josh Pothier, based on the latest revenue projections, the budget as proposed would mean a citywide tax rate of 41.66 mills, down by 0.17 mills, plus 6.79 mills for property owners in the paid fire tax district, up by 0.14 mills and 0.37 mills for property owners in the five volunteer fire districts, up by 0.02 mills.

Property owners can calculate their new tax bill by taking the assessed value of their property or motor vehicle, dividing it by 1,000 and multiplying that by the new proposed tax rate.

By charter, the City Council must adopt a final city budget by the second Monday in June. Last week, Mayor Peter Nystrom recommended waiting as long as possible to adopt a final budget in the hopes of learning more about the state grants coming to the city. Those will be finalized as part of the state budget process.

c.bessette@theday.com