North Stonington — Residents here will cast their votes for the first time Monday on the proposed 2018-19 budget.

Polls will be open at Town Hall from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The $19.9 million proposal consists of a $5.07 million general government budget and a $13.5 million education budget, while also allocating $1.02 million for debt service and $319,593 for capital projects.

If approved, the budget is expected to increase the tax rate from 28 mills to 28.2 mills. This tax rate is slightly lower than the 28.7 mills tax rate town officials originally projected when putting the budget together.

That tax rate decreased due to the recently passed state budget supplying more state aid to the town.

Unlike recent years, this year's proposed budget will be voted on as one budget instead of as separate education and general government budgets, a return to how things were done prior to 2007.

First Selectman Mike Urgo has said that this approach allows the town to avoid a situation like it had last year when one budget passed and the other failed, and increases the ability of town officials to modify the proposed budget if it fails at referendum.

The proposed budget overall represents a 3.48 percent increase from the current spending plan, with a 1.44 percent increase in the general government budget and a 4.97 percent increase in the education budget.  

Board of Education officials have credited much of the increase in school spending to contractual obligations and spending on items the district spent nearly no money on last year during a spending freeze.

An increase in spending on debt associated with the school modernization project also contributed to the proposed budget's increase. The budget proposal calls for making a $750,000 payment on the debt for the project, whereas in the current fiscal year the town made a $500,000 principal payment on the school project.