Next Tuesday voters in cash-strapped Oak Bluffs will be asked to decide a number of tax and spending questions, and one question on the size of town government itself.

A petition signed by 159 Oak Bluffs taxpayers calls for reducing the number of selectmen in town from five to three. Oak Bluffs is the only town on the Island with a five-member board of selectmen.

“I can see advantages to both the three-member board and the five-member board and I can see disadvantages,” selectman and board chairman Duncan Ross said this week. “It is up to the people to decide whether they want a three-member board, but the one thing I will say is that I wish the decision was being made at an annual town meeting versus a special town meeting, but we don’t have any control over that.”

In 1993 the board expanded from three members to five following the recommendation of a blue ribbon panel. Mr. Ross said the move happened in part because of the expanded role selectmen had taken on, citing obligations to such committees as the all-Island selectmen and cable committees.

Former selectman Herbert Combra, who signed the petition that led to the town meeting article, said the petition was started by Bill Alwardt, a local fisherman who regularly attends selectmen’s meetings.

“We just think that if we’re cutting things down we can cut government down too,” Mr. Combra said yesterday. “There’s just too much repetition; the meetings are too long. We can get along with three selectmen. No other town on the Island has five selectmen.”

Two other former selectmen, Roger Wey and Kerry Scott, also signed the petition.

The special town meeting begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the Oak Bluffs School. Moderator David Richardson will preside over the session.

There are seven articles on the warrant.

One asks voters to raise the local room occupancy tax from four to six per cent. Voters rejected the proposal at the April annual town meeting and the finance committee does not recommend the increase. Combined with state taxes, the measure would increase the total room tax to over 11 per cent.

Two of the five selectmen support the article.

“This is a tax that’s paid by tourists,” said selectman Ron DiOrio at a meeting in late October. “We spend a lot of time developing services to accommodate tourists and I do not think this is unreasonable. This is money that stays locally.”

He continued, “The great cry on this was if we raise the room tax no one will stay in Oak Bluffs. I refuse to believe that argument. People don’t make decisions like that; I’ve never not stayed somewhere because of a room tax. We’re facing serious financial problems and we need every dollar we can possibly get.”

Voters will also decide whether to increase a number of town fees, including fees for birth certificates, marriage certificates and business certificates.

Another article asks to transfer $107,510 from the town stabilization fund to pay tuition for the Oak Bluffs School’s residential placement program.

“Most years we are able to pay for this out of free cash but we can’t do that this year so we have to pay it out of stabilization,” said town administrator Michael Dutton. The state-mandated residential placement program provides special needs students the opportunity to be educated off-Island.

Another request would transfer $41,800 from the ambulance reserve fund over the next three years to lease four public safety vehicles for the police department. Since its creation in 1993, the ambulance fund has accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars from transporting hospital patients off-Island. The fund is used by the fire and police departments to purchase new equipment.

Finally, the Oak Bluffs parks commission has an article on the warrant requesting $200,000 in Community Preservation Act money to help pay for the Seaview Heritage project, an ambitious waterfront restoration project extending from the North Bluff to Inkwell Beach. Voters approved $300,000 for the project at the 2009 annual town meeting to attract a matching a state grant. The current request would cover projects in the area of the historic clay brick bathhouse, including renovations to the bathhouse itself, as well as a welcome center and information kiosk.

And some town officials are skeptical about the last two components of the project.

“I don’t understand why a kiosk and a welcome area needs to be added to this project which is making the cost higher,” said selectman Gail Barmakian at a recent meeting. The sentiment was echoed this week by former CPC administrator Adam Wilson, who denounced the article in a letter published in today’s Gazette.

“All told, over $155,000 is being requested for improvements that don’t tie in with historic preservation,” Mr. Wilson wrote. “To avoid a potential lawsuit for the inappropriate use of CPA funds, town voters should vote no.”