When the annual town meeting season gets under way this month, Vineyard voters will be asked to spend more than $100 million collectively to keep their towns operating for the coming fiscal year. Most of that money will be spent on schools, followed by police, fire and public safety and general government.

An examination by the Gazette of actual spending on town budgets in 2006 and 2011, and projected spending for this year shows a steady rise over the past 10 years. In 2006 the six Island towns spent roughly $84 million on town budgets. In 2011 the number rose to $99 million. This year projected spending in the six town budgets adds up to just over $117 million.

Information on town budgets and spending comes from the state Department of Revenue division of local services, which tracks town expenditures year by year, and also town reports and draft budgets for the coming year.

Annual town meetings open in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury on April 12. The Chilmark annual town meeting is April 25. The Aquinnah annual meeting is May 11.

The town budget appears as an article on the warrant at every town meeting. Because not every town organizes its budget the same way, it is sometimes difficult to track numbers across categories. Aquinnah, Edgartown, Chilmark and West Tisbury, for example, organize their budgets under broad categories including general government, police, fire and public safety, education and public works, while Oak Bluffs and Tisbury do not.

All the information is eventually sent to the DOR, which sorts local expenditures into uniform categories for every city, town and district in the commonwealth, in part to facilitate comparisons. This and other detailed fiscal information for the state’s 351 cities and towns is available online at the DOR website.

The bulk of town budgets are paid by an annual property tax levy, although each town also receives revenue from other sources, including state aid, much of which is allocated by means of complicated formulas.

And the bulk of spending in Island towns is for education. In 2006 the six towns collectively spent $31 million on public education. That year Aquinnah spent $792,000 for its share of the regional high school budget and the up-Island elementary district, while Chilmark spent $1.8 million and West Tisbury spent $6.8 million for the same. In 2006 Edgartown spent $8 million for its share of the high school budget and its town elementary school, while Oak Bluffs spent $7.8 million and Tisbury spent $6.9 million for the same.

In 2011 school spending saw a similar pattern, with Aquinnah paying $867,000, Chilmark paying $2.4 million and West Tisbury $7.7 million for education. In Edgartown the number climbed to $9.1 million, while Oak Bluffs spent $9.5 million and Tisbury spent $9.2 million on schools.

This year projected spending on education breaks down as follows: Aquinnah, $1.2 million (the Aquinnah budget is still in draft form), Chilmark, $3 million, West Tisbury $8.9 million, Edgartown, $11.7 million, Oak Bluffs $12 million, and Tisbury, $10.2 million.

In the three up-Island towns, which share an elementary school district, town finance and school leaders are concerned about the fact that West Tisbury shoulders a disproportionate share of the costs. A report from a specially-appointed task force this week made some preliminary recommendations and cited a need for further study on the matter.

Police, fire and public safety occupy another large block of public spending. In 2006 Island towns spent a total of $10.6 million for public safety, breaking down as follows: Aquinnah, $474,000, Chilmark, $880,000, Edgartown, $3.8 million, Oak Bluffs, $2.5 million, Tisbury, $1.8 million and West Tisbury, $1.3 million. Five years later the numbers climbed to $601,00 in Aquinnah, $1.1 million in Chilmark, $4.9 million in Edgartown, $2.9 million in Oak Bluffs, $2.4 million in Tisbury and $1.8 million in West Tisbury.

Town budgets for the coming year show that spending on police, fire and public safety may have begun to level off, with only slight increases compared to 2011. Total spending on police, fire and public safety was about $13 million five years ago and will be about $13.5 million if the six budgets are approved as drafted this year.

Projected total town budgets for the coming year are as follows: Aquinnah $4 million, Chilmark, $9 million, Edgartown, $33.5 million, Oak Bluffs, 28.5 million, Tisbury $25.4 million, West Tisbury, $16.9 million.

Finance managers around the Island said balancing town budgets becomes more challenging every year, given the constraints of Proposition 2 1/12, the state-mandated tax cap that limits the tax levy increase to two and a half per cent every year. To exceed the tax cap, voters must approve an override in the ballot box.

In Tisbury, voters will face a general override question this year.

Town finance director Jonathan Snyder said one factor that led to the need for an override is a townwide salary restructuring following a consultant report last year that found wages were out of line with other towns. The adjustments will cost the town some $170,000, he said. “It’s very difficult to manage the town responsibly while under constant pressure to keep costs down,” Mr. Snyder said.

In Oak Bluffs there will be no override this year, but town administrator Robert Whritenour echoed Mr. Snyder’s comments. “Here in Oak Bluffs we’ve done a tremendous amount of work to stabilize our local financial process where previously expenditures were in excess of revenues,” he said. “People need to realize it’s a very small town and in the big picture, we have very little revenue growth. At some point I think we’re going to have to look at Proposition 2 1/2. It’s done a great job for 30 years, but what are we going to do for the next 30 years? It’s difficult to keep spending within those limits.”

Dan Bertrand, a communications spokesman for the DOR division of local services, said when it comes to town budgets there are no clear patterns.

“There is no average town,” he said. “Spending depends very much on the decisions that are made at the local level. Our oversight involves making sure that the numbers are accurate. But local policy decisions are just that.”

See charts showing how the six towns spend their money.