State lawmakers are pushing up against a tight deadline as they seek to finish reviewing a Little Compton request to present a 12 percent tax levy increase, three times the maximum increase allowed by state law, to voters at next Tuesday’s Financial Town Meeting next Tuesday.

“We all know legislation takes time, so trying to do this in just a few short weeks is not unheard of, but it takes a lot of doing,” Rep. Michelle McGaw said Tuesday morning.

Faced with the prospect of raising taxes 12 percent or cutting approximately $1 million from the town’s proposed 2025-26 budget, town officials directed McGaw and Senator Louis DiPalma last month to submit legislation allowing the town to override the 4 percent levy increase limit. Under that enabling legislation, state approval, if granted, is contingent on voter approval at Town Meeting.

There is still quite a bit of work left before the state.

Companion bills were submitted to both the House and Senate, and the House Committee on Municipal Government voted last Wednesday to send the house bill out of committee for a full floor vote. That vote, and a parallel full floor vote in the Senate, were expected Tuesday.

Assuming both chambers pass their version of the legislation, each must then send the other its bill for approval, so both the house and senate will have the opportunity to sign off on the other’s version.

“The real reason for this is you want to have someone in each chamber advocating for passage,” McGaw said.

The earliest that will happen, at least on the House side, is Thursday, McGaw said.

Assuming both chambers approve the other’s version of the legislation, only then will it be submitted to Gov. Dan McKee for his review and possible passage.

“We are definitely on a time crunch,” McGaw said.

That said, “I’m optimistic,” McGaw said. “But the key point to all of this is that it leaves it up to the voters. It’s not the General Assembly; I’ve told constituents that if they’re concerned about the budget, they need to show up (at Town Meeting), they need to ask a lot of questions. And they need to understand what it means if the levy does not increase.”

Voters at next week’s Town Meeting will be presented with an $18.3 million school and town budget. That number already includes about $580,000 in cuts to an earlier version of the budget, but officials have not said yet where the $1 million savings would come from if the state denies the town’s request, or voters reject it at Town Meeting. If it fails on either front, however, the resulting tax levy increase would come in just under the 4 percent maximum allowed by law.

Apart from other mostly routine matters on the warrant, there will be two elections at Town Meeting. Candidates include:

Beach commission (two seats open)

William Mackintosh, III

Joseph D. Maiato

Peter M. Petrarca

Samantha A. Snow

Budget committee (three seats open)

George M. Crowell

Jennifer R. Flather

Scott W. Lewis

Kurt Ryan Peters

Brandon E. Pineo

Andrew Larkin Rhyne