A warrant long on articles but short on controversy awaits voters at Edgartown annual town meeting Tuesday.

Voters will be asked to approve a $26 million operating budget for the coming fiscal year along with a legion 53 warrant articles. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the Old Whaling Church; moderator Philip (Jeff) Norton Jr. will preside.

Selectman Arthur Smadbeck credited early and conscientious work of town departments for the lack of fuss on the warrant this year.

“Every article has a reason for being there,” Mr. Smadbeck said yesterday, adding: “This is a very conservative budget.”

Edgartown bottom-lined its budget early and was the first municipal body to forego cost of living salary increases (COLAs) for town employees in the face of the national economic crisis.

This decision is at the root of one potential source of controversy: the question of whether to pay the town assessment for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, the last item on the annual town election ballot.

Mr. Smadbeck said yesterday the question amounts to a referendum on the performance of the commission, which refused to cut employee COLAs despite repeated requests from the Edgartown finance committee.

Among the warrant articles are 12 spending recommendations totaling $740,000 from the town Community Preservation Committee.

One item expected to draw debate is a recommendation to spend $28,000 to fund a feasibility study for a bike path on Chappaquiddick.

The article represents the latest action for a group of Chappaquiddick residents who have been lobbying for a bike path on the tiny island for some 30 years. Tuesday will be the first time the issue has made it as far as town meeting floor.

“Both sides are passionate; I’m fascinated about that discussion,” said Mr. Smadbeck. “And it will be interesting to see what people who don’t live on Chappy have to say. Whether they say they love Chappy’s rustic appeal and don’t want it disturbed, or I think I would like to take my kids on a bike ride on Chappy but I don’t feel it’s safe without a path.”

Mr. Smadbeck said he expects the requested will be reduced on the town floor.

“This issue isn’t about the money. The real money comes if it ever gets built,” he said.

Another CPC article requests $15,000 to fund designs to convert the cafeteria of the old Edgartown school into a theatre and community space.

The original request made by Donna Swift of Troubled Shores, a community theatre company, for $60,000, comes while the town still has out a request for proposals for the old school. Following months of deliberation the Martha’s Vineyard Museum turned down a town offer to relocate to the school.

“The [design] money is a drop in the bucket and this is a moment in time for them to excite the town and talk about what they want to do,” said Mr. Smadbeck.

Community preservation committee money comes from a three per cent property tax surcharge, which initially received a matching grant from the state for projects which help preserve buildings and open space.

However, money from the state this year has dwindled to 60 cents on the dollar for Edgartown.

Mr. Smadbeck predicts this signals the steady decline to nonexistence of state funding for the committee.

“Eventually it will all go away and then maybe the raison d’être for the CPC will too,” he said. “Everybody complains about taxes, and with this we’re taxing ourselves. It’s a good thing while we’re getting [state money], but would these projects have been done otherwise, would people pay to repair stained glass windows in a church?”

One article on Tuesday’s warrant does indeed request $25,000 for the restoration of two stained glass windows.

There is also request to take $100,000 from three accounts to pay back the school superintendent’s office for a double-charging incident that occurred last year.

When a $100,000 reduction in the Edgartown School budget appeared late in the budgeting process, town administrators mistakenly deducted the amount twice from the figure requested on the town floor.

“They’ve been patient and this is the last chance to put it back before the end of the fiscal year,” said Mr. Smadbeck.

The annual town election is on Thursday. Polls are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the selectmen’s meeting room of the town hall.

In the sole contested race, Peter M. Mcguire is challenging incumbent William Erickson for water commissioner.

Mr. McGuire, 60, is a retired chemistry teacher from Clarkestown, N.Y. “I didn’t mean to be competing with anyone, I’m just offering the town my services I know a little about water chemistry,” he said on the telephone this week.

Mr. Erickson could not be reached for comment.

Thirteen of fourteen candidates are running uncontested and there are write-in candidates for a further two seats — incumbent Malcolm Reed, who did not take out papers but decided later to run again, and Barbara G. Shriber are vying for a single seat on the finance committee. Robert Sparks is running as a write-in candidate for an empty planning board seat which will be vacated by William Bishop.

Mr. Smadbeck, running unopposed for what will be his sixth term as selectman, said he has unfinished business and still wants the job.

“There’s lots of things I want to get done. The alternative energy program. Working on getting ponds clean, addressing groundwater. I’ve been involved in these things for awhile and they are priorities of mine. There’s no guarantees they’ll be the priorities of the next guy. And the good thing about being selectman is it gives you a portfolio to go to other meetings and say, I think this or this is good for the town,” he said.

For Mr. Smadbeck, the fact that he is running uncontested is a show of good faith from the town.

“I’m grateful — there’s two ways to go out, to retire or someone knocks you off,” he said. “I’d much prefer to retire.”

There are seven ballot questions, including the one singling out the $270,000 MVC assessment. The question is largely symbolic; the town is obligated to pay the assessment but Mr. Smadbeck said the outcome is still important.

“The assessment has to be paid but it allows the taxpayers to have a say. It’s more of a referendum if you will, on the MVC. If it passes unanimously on the ballot then the town is happy and it puts it to rest. If not, it passes a clear message: you’ve angered your constituents so much that they’re not voting your budget,” he said.

There are five other Proposition 2 1/2 override questions or exemptions:

• $236,000 for the town dredge program.

• $110,000 to reimburse the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse District for engineering and construction costs to cap the old town landfill site.

• $20,000 for the town’s share of the Vineyard Health Care access program.

• $11,000 for the town’s share of the county pest management program.

• $180,000 (in two questions) to resurface streets and repair sidewalks, bike paths and storm drainage systems.