Still unhappy with next year’s early budget estimates that they believe unfairly saddles the town with a disproportionate share of cost, the Edgartown selectmen are moving ahead with plans to withdraw from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

The selectmen will now put the question before voters at a special town meeting slated for Dec. 14.

On Monday afternoon selectmen approved a warrant for the special town meeting which includes an article to authorize the selectmen to petition the state legislature to begin the necessary steps to pull out of the commission. If the question goes that far, it would need the governor’s approval and then would return for a second vote by the town.

“We just sort of kicked it around and said why not,” said selectman and board chairman Margaret Serpa following the meeting. “It’s only a first step, it’s only an opinion type of thing anyway,” she said, adding:

“Because the issue has been discussed so much in the press, we just decided we would see what the voters wanted.”

The issue first came up three weeks ago when James Joyce, the town’s appointed representative to the commission, registered his concern over an increase in the town’s assessment for the coming year in the MVC draft budget. Originally estimated at $302,674, a second version of the budget shows the assessment would be $286,829, the same as this year.

Town assessments are based on equalized valuations under a formula established by the state legislature when the commission was created. Edgartown pays the largest annual assessment to the commission, followed by Chilmark. Mr. Joyce has suggested a new formula based half on population size and half on equalized valuations.

He also criticized a proposed 4.5 per cent pay increase for commission staff, which has since been reduced to 2.5 per cent. And he recommended that the town withdraw from the commission.

Edgartown’s complaints about the commission’s budget are not new; a year and a half ago selectmen singled out the town assessment as an override question on the annual town ballot. It later turned out money to pay the mandatory assessment had not been set aside in the town budget and a special town meeting was required to correct the problem.

In 1978 the town withdrew from the commission after bitter arguments over the commission’s broad powers; the town rejoined the regional commission in 1984.

This week commission executive director Mark London emphasized that the budget is still in its very early stages, and he referenced a recent analysis by Bruce Stone, an accountant and resident of Edgartown, which shows that the equalized valuations formula allows payments to be spread equitably among taxpayers.

“I would hope that people in Edgartown and the entire Island as a whole would feel $20 a year for a typical household [with property valued at $500,000] is a very good investment considering everything the commission has done and continues to do to protect the character, environment and quality of life Martha’s Vineyard,” Mr. London said. “Our economy and property values are very dependent on the character and quality of life here.”

Two other articles on the special town meeting warrant are intended to restart a stalled project to renovate a historic World War II hangar at the Katama airfield. The project hinges on amending a conservation restriction held by The Nature Conservancy. At the annual town meeting last year, voters approved money for the project, but the state Division of Conservation Services later rejected the plan, saying that it violated the terms of the original conservation restriction for the airpark.

A new plan calls for adding 21.2 acres off Pennywise Path to town conservation holdings to offset the slight loss of restricted land at Katama due to the hangar renovation. If voters approve, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank will hold the restriction.

Town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport told the selectmen on Monday that the plan has the backing of the town conservation commission and is still subject to approval by The Nature Conservancy. And the town will need to petition the state legislature to allow the change.

Voters will be asked to approve two articles to accomplish the change.

“We didn’t want to lose another year,” Mr. Rappaport said. “People have been waiting a long time for this hangar.”