The Annapolis city council approved a $55.6 million operating budget last night - the first of Mayor Ellen O. Moyer's administration - with few changes.

Only minor amendments to the budget were offered, proposed by the council's finance committee with Moyer's support. Three aldermen told the council they had different priorities but said they believed amendment attempts were "futile."

Alderman Sheila M. Tolliver, who helped build a coalition that significantly amended budgets of the past three years at the last minute, chastised fellow members for not joining her criticism of the spending plan. Among her criticisms were the 11 new positions in the budget, many of which she called unnecessary and "high-priced."

"The citizens of Annapolis elected a nine-member council," she said. If this is the level of scrutiny that the budget is given, "then eight of us are superfluous."

Although Tolliver drafted several amendments that she said would correct "myths" and misdirected priorities in the budget, she said she left them at home after realizing that the mayor had the votes to pass the budget unchanged.

"I did not sign on as a suicide bomber in Osama bin Laden's army," she said.

Aldermen Louise Hammond and David H. Cordle joined Tolliver in her criticism of the budget. Among their major concerns was $700,000 in grants being given to private nonprofit groups, an increase of more than $100,000 from last year.

"I think the grant money is absolutely out of control. It has grown each year, and we have no criteria as to who gets grant money and how much they receive," Hammond said. "This is a real shoddy way of doing business."

The budget - which keeps the property tax rate unchanged at 62.4 cents per $100 of assessed value - passed on a voice vote with no "nays."

"I am very pleased that we were able to move forward in a very responsible way," Moyer said after the meeting.

At the meeting the council also approved the $43.3 million capital budget, which funds construction and improvements, and ratified contracts with the city's four unions.