West Tisbury on Tuesday night became the third of four towns needed to ratify the budget for the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.

At a special town meeting voters said yes to an amended high school budget, approved a Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District plan to borrow $1.5 million to buy 11 acres of land next to the central transfer station, and agreed to spend $2,500 to participate in a plan to develop an up-Island distributed antennae system to improve cellular phone reception in town.

Moderator F. Patrick Gregory thanked the 104 voters who attended the meeting - just one person more than needed to secure the five per cent quorum requirement.

"We just barely made our quorum," Mr. Gregory said, singling out for praise two 18-year-old voters who attended the meeting in the elementary school gymnasium.

The regional high school budget took up the most discussion time, with questions and debate about the method being used to calculate the town's assessment. The article - which requested an additional $116,460 for the town share of the high school budget on top of $2.2 million voted at the annual town meeting in April - passed by a voice vote.

Town selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, who also sits on the school and finance committees, opened the discussion by explaining the situation: the changed school assessment had been calculated using a state formula, which the regional high school is using for the first time this year.

The assessment approved by voters this spring was based on a different formula, spelled out in the high school regional agreement which dates back for some 50 years. Enforcement of a state law governing school assessment formulas affected the Vineyard for the first time this year, and after a series of events at annual town meetings this spring, the high school committee was forced to recertify its budget and return to the towns with assessments based on the statutory method, changing the amount due from every town.

Mr. Manter said that although he did not like the so-called statutory assessment method, he endorsed West Tisbury's additional assessment so that the high school could begin the fiscal year with its budget intact. If no school budget is in place by July 1, the state commissioner of education would step in to assign the school a monthly operating budget based on last year, which could mean a spending reduction of $356,000.

"I don't think the high school should be caught in the crossfire of our issues," Mr. Manter said. "By voting to support this, we are voting for solidarity . . . I don't want the state to take control over this issue on a month-by-month basis," he added later.

Selectman and board chairman Glenn R. Hearn took the opposite view, encouraging voters to turn down the additional budget assessment. He too said he opposed the state assessment formula. But Mr. Hearn suggested that not having a school budget and forcing the state into the matter would draw more attention to the problem and give the towns the chance to argue their case for why the Island should not use the statutory formula - or should at least use a formula with data that is up to date.

"If we vote this down, I think we'll make much quicker progress with the commissioner," Mr. Hearn said. "[The regional agreement's enrollment formula] is a good formula. You people should fight for it."

But others were skeptical at the notion that the state could resolve the issue in a way that would please the towns.

"I don't think the state will notice we are punishing them and I think the school will," town treasurer and former school committee member Katherine Logue said.

Finance committee member Alexander R. DeVito questioned how the town could put its faith in a state government he called dysfunctional.

Linda Hughes, a member of the high school parent teacher organization, agreed. "We are going to cut off our noses to spite our faces because we're angry that one town didn't vote for the [school budget]," she said, referring to the April town meeting vote in Oak Bluffs which triggered the need to change the budget.

In discussion about the refuse district land purchase, district manager Don Hatch explained that the 11-acre parcel abuts the current 23-acre transfer facility and represents the only choice for the district to expand at that location. In a show of hands 93-10, voters approved the request.

Mrs. Logue estimated that West Tisbury's portion of the debt for the project would amount to an average of about $18,000 a year for 20 years.

Also on Tuesday voters agreed to redirect $5,240 from the former space needs committee to the new town hall renovation committee and to add two at-large members to the town capital improvements committee.