BANGOR – City councilors made more headway Wednesday on bringing next year’s proposed $74.7 million budget into line with new state limits on municipal and school spending.

After much deliberation and often with great reluctance, councilors voted to eliminate one position in the police department and two more firefighter posts, bringing the total cut in that department to four.

Councilors agreed to upgrade an ambulance billing clerk position because the additional revenue that employee brought in would offset the $22,926 additional cost.

They also decided to phase out the city’s geriatric nurse program, which serves 50 to 75 elderly residents who aren’t eligible for other assistance programs, by the end of this year, and opted to fund the city’s new cultural commission at $100,000 instead of at $200,000 as requested.

Among the budget decisions that remain are whether to fund two heavy equipment operator positions in the public works department at $33,576 each and whether the annual appropriation for the Greater Bangor Convention & Visitors Bureau, now funded at $93,500, should be increased to last year’s level of $125,000.

The councilors tied 4-4 in a vote to that end. Several councilors, including Geoffrey Gratwick and John Cashwell, thought the organization should be looking to raise more of its operating money from the local business community, particularly some of the national chains that have set up shop here but do not contribute to the bureau.

If one thing was clear during Wednesday’s three-hour budget workshop, it was that there is virtually no council support for another override of the state’s new limits on municipal and school funding.

With eight of the city’s nine councilors on hand, seven said they would not agree to an override.

Council Chairman Frank Farrington, however, said he would consider an override “if I feel the individual item is worth it” in terms of public health and safety, his litmus test for this year’s budget process.

That means that any additions to the proposed budget would have to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget, City Manager Edward Barrett said.

During their regular meeting Monday night, councilors voted to exceed the state-set maximum tax levy for two purposes.

In what City Manager Edward Barrett described as a “technical” override because the city is administering a state-mandated service, councilors voted to increase the city’s overall tax levy, now at $39 million, by $278,205, or the amount that general assistance reimbursement from the state is projected to receive in excess of the state-mandated growth limit.

The other involved school officials’ request to override the state spending limit by $416,727 for extracurricular and co-curricular activities.

Budget deliberations will resume at 5:30 p.m. Monday, immediately after a meeting of the council’s finance committee.

The budget goes up for final adoption on Monday, June 27.