In a show of confidence for the fiscal management of their town, Oak Bluffs voters at their annual town meeting Tuesday approved a large increase in the operating budget and said yes to spending a combined $15 million for a new town hall and fire station.

Oak Bluffs will spend $15 million for a new town hall and fire station, Edgartown intends to change its town clerk from an elected to an appointed post, and West Tisbury will pay to complete a watershed study of the Mill Pond — but not to dredge it. All three towns finished in one night.

With newfound financial stability as a backdrop, Oak Bluffs voters will be asked to shoulder some hefty spending items at their annual town meeting this year. And the town operating budget needs an override.

When voters gather within the newly painted walls of the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown next Tuesday, they will take on a town meeting warrant with 66 articles and a $30.7 million town budget.

How to preserve the rural character of Chilmark while planning for the future: the question is expected to take center stage when voters consider a proposed bylaw to regulate house size at their annual town meeting Monday night.

After a few years of annual town meetings that were quiet and largely routine, the Chilmark warrant is packed with weighty issues this year, including an $8.1 million operating budget, up nearly five per cent over last year, largely due to increased education costs.

Edgartown voters made short work of the town’s business Tuesday night, easily approving every spending article on the warrant, passing a bylaw that requires buildings in the historic district to be kept up and voting to take ownership of the Edgartown lighthouse — all in under two hours.

Medical marijuana dispensaries could become a reality in Oak Bluffs and Tisbury after an effort to place a one-year moratorium on the dispensaries failed to win the backing of voters on Tuesday night. And the countywide pest control program is also in a state of uncertainty after voters in West Tisbury turned down their share of funding for the program.

Medical marijuana questions were on the warrants for three of four town meetings held Tuesday night. The outcome was slightly different in each town.

Aquinnah Voters Face Town Meeting Vote On $2 Million Budget

By JOSHUA SABATINI

The last town meeting of the Island's political season takes
place in Aquinnah on Tuesday, when residents will gather in the town
hall at 7 p.m. to vote on a $2,056,058 operating budget and 14 warrant
articles.

Although predicting the need for a Proposition 2 1/2 override,
selectmen are in the dark as to the exact status of the town's
free cash.

In a marathon annual town meeting, Edgartown residents voted down
the Martha's Vineyard Commission's designation of
Chappaquiddick as a district of critical planning concern (DCPC).

Voting 195 to 134 not to establish the boundaries of the
Chappaquiddick district, the town eliminated the district designation in
one fell swoop.

Seven minutes before midnight Tuesday, Edgartown town meeting voters
wrapped up a long list of business - supporting a $19 million
operating budget and killing proposed house-size caps on Chappaquiddick.

But the night's liveliest debates for those in the crowded
pews at the Old Whaling Church, and perhaps the most interesting result
of the week, centered around a funding request to hire a housing
inspector to license the town's 1,500 rental properties.