Residents around the state can go to the polls Tuesday to vote on their school district’s 2017-18 budgets and elect members of their local school boards.

Turnout is typically low for these votes. But for property owners, the budgets can have a significant impact on your annual tax bill.

In the Capital Region, districts are proposing an average 1.7 percent increase to the local tax levy, according to a Times Union analysis. The tax fluctuations vary from a 5.25 percent tax hike in the Stillwater Central School District to an 11 percent tax cut in the Rensselaer City School District.

Only three others are proposing tax cuts: Schenectady (2.04 percent), Hoosic Valley (1.15 percent) and Berne-Knox-Westerlo (0.5 percent). The majority — 35 out of 41 districts in the four-county area — want to raise taxes.

“New York’s school districts are receiving record-high levels of aid from Albany to educate fewer students, and our school taxes are still climbing,” said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank out of Albany.

School districts have been bound since 2011 by a property tax cap law that limits growth of the tax levy to inflation or 2 percent — whichever is less. Districts can still raise taxes beyond the limit, but would need 60 percent voter approval rather than a simple majority.

This has made attempts to exceed the limit few and far between, as districts that do tend to see more angry voters show up to the polls. Statewide, only 12 districts out of 669 statewide are seeking to override the cap this year. None are in the Capital Region.

Still, nearly half of all school districts in the state are seeking to raise 2017-18 taxes right up to the limit, according to an Empire Center analysis.

“Albany’s fixation on steering more state funds to schools isn’t translating into property tax relief,” Hoefer said. “The tax cap has succeeded in slowing the growth of taxes, but there’s more to be done to set New York on the right track.”

Contributing to the tax impact are major capital projects, which are on a handful of school ballots this year.

North Colonie has one of the largest — a $106 million proposal to update and expand district buildings in response to demographic projections that show the 5,600-student district can expect another 900 students over the next decade.

The district initially sought voter approval in December for a $196 million project, but has since scaled it back after the proposal was soundly defeated at the polls.

Other local districts with capital projects on the ballot this year are Schenectady ($64.5 million), East Greenbush ($39.7 million), Rensselaer ($210,000) and Berlin ($100,000).

The annual school budget vote is also the time when many people run for their local school board, which controls district purse strings and major policy.

There are 19 contested school board races in the Capital Region this spring. Bethlehem has the largest pool of candidates with eight candidates running for three open seats on the board. Hoosic Valley also has a large slate, with six candidates running for two spots. In Schenectady, six candidates are running for three spots.

Districts also like to add major bus purchases to the ballot. While the state typically reimburses districts for more than half of all transportation costs, districts often rely on bond notes, reserve funds and tax increases to finance the rest.

In the Shenendehowa Central School District, for example, the district is seeking voter approval to spend $2.2 million on 22 new school buses — a purchase that would require a 0.2 percent tax increase starting in 2018.

A number of districts are asking for voter permission to create reserve funds, which are like savings accounts that can be used to pay off future projects.

If you care about your local library, at least seven local districts are using the annual budget vote to gain voter approval for library budgets and library trustee elections. They are: Albany, Ballston Spa, Corinth, Menands, Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, Schuylerville and Watervliet.

Wondering what’s at stake in your local school district?

The Times Union has compiled a budget explainer for each district in the Capital Region detailing what voters should expect to see on the ballot when they head to the polls Tuesday. Visit blog.timesunion.com/schools to find your district.

© 2017 Times Union