NORWICH – The Norwich City School District rolled out its proposed 2015-2016 school year budget during a regularly scheduled board meeting on Wednesday, calling for a 0 percent tax levy increase and a plan to maintain services for both students and teachers.

The $40.4 million budget lays out a 1.2 percent increase in spending which allows for benefits like sustained class sizes, maintenance or increases to programming in arts, athletics and extracurricular programs, and better resources for teacher support and professional development.

The fiscal plan also seeks continuation of a number of services and positions returned to the district in 2015, including the elementary summer school program, a speech therapist, new teaching positions in English, math and music, a full-time foreign language teacher, and a social worker position contracted through BOCES.

“Our goal, of course, is community support of a budget that takes care of our instructional programs and is fiscally responsible,” said Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan.

Over the past five years, the Norwich City School District’s budget increases have averaged 1.7 percent while tax levy increases have averaged 1.26 percent, O’Sullivan pointed out. The highest spending increase occurred in 2014 at 3.23 percent, which was largely due to a $5 million bus purchase proposition approved by voters in May.