With the Tisbury School gym scheduled for demolition in August, school and town officials are looking for alternative places to hold a special town meeting this fall so that voters can have their say on funding further expenses for the school construction project.

Last year, town voters overwhelmingly approved borrowing up to $55 million for renovations and an addition at the 1929 school. But soaring costs for materials and labor have already added more than $10 million to the project’s original $53 million estimate, and actual bids won’t be received until early July.

“We’re anticipating a rough budget the week of seven-11,” said Harvey Eskenas, project manager for WT Rich Company, the firm engaged by the school building committee to oversee the construction.

At an online meeting of the building committee Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Eskanas said WT Rich has been actively seeking bidders, including Island firms.

“We’ve been uncovering every stone trying to find people to bid this job,” he told the committee. “We’ll pursue every opportunity we can to get the locals.”

WT Rich has already hired local companies to install plumbing and power for the temporary classrooms and offices, a series of modular structures being assembled on the school grounds, Mr. Eskenas said.

Costello Dismantling of West Wareham has also been engaged to abate hazardous materials at the gym before tearing it down, with a tentative start date of August 5, he said.

But if the gym comes down in August, the town will have to find another place for a special town meeting that is practically guaranteed to take place this fall, in order to seek funding for aspects of the original voter-approved school building plan that no longer fit within the $55 million borrowing limit.

Window replacement and repointed brick, once part of the core project, are among the construction elements that have been pulled out of the project until separate funding can be arranged, according to Mr. Eskenas’s report.

Meanwhile, town administrator John (Jay) Grande told the select board last week that the state legislature still has not acted on a request to allow Tisbury to hold town meetings outside the municipal borders, which leaves the school gym the only public building in town with enough capacity for voter turnout.

While Mr. Eskenas said it would be possible to reschedule the gym abatement and demolition for later in the construction process, the change would be reflected in a later completion date and higher costs for his company’s services and those of CHA, the owner’s project manager for Tisbury.

Building committee chairman Mike Watts said any delay would also add to the $85,000 monthly rent for the temporary school buildings.

“And that’s a lower rate WT Rich negotiated,” he added.

The Emergency Services Building facility on Spring street may offer an alternative town meeting location, Mr. Watts said.

“A couple of ideas that popped around would be to pull the fire trucks out on a nice day and meet in the bays in there . . . or under a tent,” he said, suggesting locations behind the ESB or on the west side of the school.

“Those are discussions that still have to happen,” Mr. Watts said. “I need to work with Jay and the select board to look at alternate locations in the town of Tisbury to have a public meeting.”

Along with removing windows, brickwork, furniture and a number of other elements from the original project, the building committee has approved additional changes to make the budget go farther.

Among their updates, the architects have lessened the size of the administrative addition and replaced a front staircase with a classroom.

“We were rather desperate to reclaim some space,” Mr. Watts said.

This revision leaves the school’s original front steps intact, but anyone who climbs them will find a door that doesn’t open.

“It’s part of the historic façade,” architect Chris Blessen said.