HAVERHILL — Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent.

Candidates and their supporters have committed countless hours to knocking doors and shaking hands, giving out campaign literature and holding signs.

Residents have seen the ads and heard the campaign pitches.

It all comes down to Tuesday.

Voters will go to the polls to choose their mayor and nine city councilors for the next two years, and three School Committee members for the next four years. At stake is who will oversee the city at a time when money is tight, threatening services for families, businesses and students.

Voters will decide whether to elect Mayor James Fiorentini to a fourth consecutive term, allowing him to match the longest run in the corner office of City Hall since Haverhill adopted its current form of government more than 40 years ago. Standing in the way is challenger John Michiston, a former City Council president who says six years of the Fiorentini administration is enough.

No matter who wins the mayor's race, the face of government will change in other corners of City Hall.

Voters will choose at least two new School Committee members to oversee a $55 million education budget at a time when the city's dropout rate is twice the state average, and Haverhill students' MCAS scores are lagging.

Voters will also choose at least one new city councilor, and have several new political faces to consider in that race. Ten challengers are competing with eight incumbents for the nine available seats that carry the power to cut the mayor's budget and create city laws.

The mayoral question: Fourth term for incumbent or time for change?

The two mayoral candidates have engaged in a war of words in a series of four debates.

Fiorentini's catch phrase is "I'm proud of our record" during his three mayoral terms spanning six years. He has referred to everything from drawing businesses and downtown residential development to Haverhill to disciplining firefighters for abusing their sick leave.

Michitson has adopted the motto: "It's time for a change in leadership. It's time to take Haverhill to the next level." He said the growth Fiorentini points to is too slow, and that the Merrimack Street end of downtown has been neglected.

He said the heart of the city needs office development to bring in workers who will spend money there, and that the city needs a better program to identify sick time abusers instead of hiring a private investigator to follow them around.

William Miller, a local real estate agent and longtime observer of Haverhill politics, said the issue driving people to the polls is the economy and city spending, and what candidate can best guide the community through these trying times.

"These are issues that Haverhill has but are not germane only to Haverhill," Miller said. "It's a national thing. We're going to depend on government more than ever to get us through this."

He said the influx of challengers looking to bounce incumbents — whether in the mayoral or council or School Committee race — is healthy for local politics.

"It keeps everybody (the incumbents) on their toes, creates a lot of interest," he said. "It gives people a reason to go out and vote."

Fiorentini has a bigger war chest than Michitson, with the mayor outspending his challenger 4-1 in the last six weeks — $29,379 to $7,433, according to their campaign finance reports.

The annual mayoral salary is $90,000.

Changes coming to other corners of government

When the election is over, the City Council and School Committee will have some new faces. The question is how many.

State Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill, a former city councilor, said Haverhill's financial struggles, along with the dynamic of a changing downtown and business community, have lured more candidates than usual this year.

"I think any time you have difficult times in term of a budget, it draws people to become involved," Dempsey said. "A lot of candidates see it as a challenging time and they want to be part of it.

"I think it's going to be an exciting election," he said. "You've got a lot of candidates, and whenever you have new members elected to a committee, there's a sense of enthusiasm and new ideas."

Two School Committee seats opened up when incumbent Erin Francescone decided not to run for re-election because of health problems, and incumbent Kerry Fitzgerald dropped out after the Sept. 15 preliminary election, saying she wanted to focus more on her family and career.

In the preliminary, two political newcomers — Raymond Sierpina, retired longtime principal of Tilton School, and Paul Magliocchetti, a local lawyer — finished first and third respectively. Joseph Bevilacqua, the only incumbent left on the school ticket, finished second. Political newcomer Daniel DeRoche, a member of the Team Haverhill civic organization, was fourth, followed by former City Councilor Krystine Hetel and Fitzgerald, who has since dropped out.

Eight of the nine incumbent city councilors are running for re-election. Only incumbent James Donahue is not seeking another term.

As in the School Committee race, a political newcomer had a strong finish in the preliminary. Michael Young, a local teacher, finished third among the 19 candidates. He said name recognition was part of the reason why — his father, Ernest Young, taught social studies at Haverhill High for 36 years. His uncle, Harold Coughlin, served on the City Council for eight years. Another uncle, John Coughlin, was a longtime Haverhill police captain.

Eight other political newcomers are on the council ballot — Sven Amirian, Colin LePage, Malcolm Kimball Jr., Leonard Russo, Christian Miller, Anastasia Papaefthemiou, David Langlois and David Noyes. Former Councilor John Curtin Jr. is also running.

Incumbents seeking re-election are Michael Hart, Robert Scatamacchia, William Ryan, Michael McGonagle, William Macek, Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien, Kenneth Quimby Jr. and David Hall.

Councilors receive an annual salary of $8,000 a year. School Committee members make $5,000 a year.

Voters expected to pack the polls

Elections officials said they are seeing signs of a strong voter turnout, including phone calls from people having questions about the election and asking how to get absentee ballots.

"We're anticipating double what we had in September," said Assistant City Clerk Rick Barber. "It could be as high as 25 percent. I think it's going to be a good turnout, a healthy turnout."

In the Sept. 15 preliminary, the city had a turnout of 12 percent, or nearly 25,000 voters. That election was to cut the council field from 20 candidates to 18 and the School Committee field from eight to six. There was no mayoral vote, since only two candidates — Fiorentini and Michitson — are running this year.

Barber said interest in voting is picking up as election day nears.

"In the last week, we've had a big jump in absentee ballot requests, double the number in September," he said.

He said many of the absentee voters tend to be retirees who go to Florida late in the year when the cold begins to set in here.

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What's at stake

Mayor: Two-year term. Annual salary of $90,000. Candidates are incumbent James Fiorentini and challenger John Michitson.

City Council: Two-year term. Annual salary of $8,000. Eight incumbents and 10 challengers competing for nine seats.

School Committee: Four-year term. Annual $5,000 salary. One incumbent and four challengers competing for three seats.