Stonington — Faced with uncertainty about cuts in state aid for the 2017-18 budget, town and school officials are looking to delay a referendum vote on the budget until later in the spring.

They hope this will give them more information about whether a proposal by Gov. Dannel Malloy to cut state aid to the town and have the town contribute to the teachers pension fund will stand or be modified. Malloy’s plan would result in the town having to make up $2.3 million in lost aid and pension contributions before any town and school budget increases are considered.

First Selectman Rob Simmons said Thursday that the town has to be careful about what assumptions it makes about state aid or it may find itself having to go back into a proposed or approved budget and making large cuts. He said delaying a budget vote to see how budget negotiations are heading in the General Assembly, where there is opposition by smaller municipalities to Malloy’s plan, could provide more concrete information and “may reduce the risk.”

“But it’s a judgment call,” Simmons said, adding that he prefers the town be conservative and assume it will get less rather than more state aid.

The General Assembly is slated to end its session on June 7, but it sometimes adjourns without passing a budget, necessitating a special session. Meanwhile, state law requires the town to set a tax rate by June 15 so tax bills can be sent out by June 30.

On Wednesday night, before the school board voted to send its proposed $37 million budget and its 2.1 percent increase to the Board of Finance for review, school board Chairman Frank Todisco reminded his members that they may be back looking at cuts if some version of Malloy’s plan is approved.

Todisco, who said he has been in almost daily contact with Simmons and Board of Finance Chairman Bryan Bentz about the state aid issue, agreed that waiting until closer to June 15 to vote on a budget may give the town more concrete information about state aid and how to plan for it.

Last year, voters approved the proposed budget by a 2-to-1 ratio on May 17.

Waiting until later in the spring to hold a referendum likely would mean there would only be time for one vote before the June 15 deadline. This means that if the budget were rejected, the town still would set a tax rate by June 15. If a subsequent referendum vote approved a budget with a lower tax rate, property owners would not get a rebate. Instead the extra tax money would go to offset the following year’s budget.

In addition to the school budget increase, Simmons’ proposed $20.5 million general government budget would increase 3 percent. Debt service, which the town has to pay and cannot cut, is set to increase 27 percent from the current $5 million to $6.3 million, while requests for town and school capital improvement spending would jump from the current $2.9 million to almost $7.7 million. The Board of Finance typically makes significant cuts to the capital budget to prevent a large tax hike.

j.wojtas@theday.com