The time has come for Edgartown to pay its overdue bill to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

Last spring the town selectmen decided to put the town’s annual assessment to the commission on the April ballot as an override question. It was meant to be a symbolic gesture following some disenchantment in town over how the commission handled its budget process during the year.

But the ballot vote failed and the $274,000 payment was left hanging.

And now, five months into the fiscal year, the debt still stands.

“For fiscal reasons, we had certain things on override,” said selectman Arthur Smadbeck this week. “The town voted not to pay it.”

But he acknowledged that nonpayment is not an option, and to that end voters will be asked to set matters straight at a special town meeting on Tuesday night.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Old Whaling Church; moderator Philip J. Norton will preside over the session.

“This is a bill. It has to be paid. It’s an assessment. We don’t have any control over the commission’s budget. It’s the cost of being in the commission,” said Mr. Smadbeck.

The assessment is usually paid in two installments, one in April and a second in November.

The warrant article asks voters to pay the bill out of free cash.

“I don’t see it as a problem,” said. Mr. Smadbeck. “We’re not doing it as an override so there is not a chance that it might get voted down at the ballot again . . . I do not foresee the town not paying the bill.”

Also on warrant is a request to restore a three per cent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for full-time town employees this year. Cost of living increases were eliminated last year during budget planning as town leaders took steps to tighten belts as the national recession set in.

Town administrator Pam Dolby said in January that the town would consider reinstating the increases once everyone had a better idea about where the town stood financially. In September, Ms. Dolby announced that the town was in a better position than expected after closing the books on 2009.

If approved by voters, the increases will go into effect Nov. 1.

In another deferred spending measure that has returned, voters will also be asked to spend $58,000 from free cash to replace two defunct police cruisers. “We put that off from April because of our concern about the financial picture at that time,” said Mr. Smadbeck. “We are way overdue to replace these vehicles.”

Voters will also be asked to spend $23,000 to replace the phone system in the town hall.

“Our phone system is falling apart,” said Mr. Smadbeck. “It’s failing. We’ve had numerous crashes in the last six weeks . . . It’s actually a public safety issue. We have to have a working phone system.”

But the big ticket item on the warrant asks voters to authorize $800,000 for a project to extend the town sewer system to the Island Grove subdivision. Selectmen initially voted in early October to postpone the article for the April town meeting, but they changed their position out of concerns about collecting a federal loan that could cover up to 70 per cent of the project cost.

The article comes with several stipulations, including the requirement that voters approve a corresponding override question at the April annual town election, that no money be spent before July of 2010 and that the grant money is obtained.

“This was done primarily to allow us to apply for the grant,” said Mr. Smadbeck.

Other requests on the 12-article warrant include a $10,000 transfer from free cash to pay for a new outboard motor for the shellfish department, a series of amendments to the shellfish committee bylaw, a lease agreement with the all-Island school committee for future use of the Edgartown School as the new superintendent’s office, and a handful of other small money transfers.