The main theme will be spending as Tisbury convenes for town meetings tonight, with the town facing its first general override in 20 years.

The Tisbury annual and special town meetings begin at 7 p.m. tonight at the Tisbury School gymnasium. There are 35 articles on the annual town meeting warrant and 22 articles on the special town meeting warrant. Moderator Deborah Medders will preside.

Voters are facing a $1.1 million budget deficit due to increased needs across town departments, including at the Tisbury School, the police department, the department of public works and the regional high school.

A fiscal year 2015 operating budget of $23.2 million is up for approval, an increase of almost eight per cent over last year.

Spending requests include $125,000 to install an automated parking fee system at the town park and a laundry list of small capital expenditures for various town improvement projects.

The town election is May 13.