Despite listing Memorial Stadium as a must, proposed fixes to the turf, lighting, and seating have been tabled due to lack of funding.

At a joint meeting between the Select Board, School Committee, and Finance Committee on April 10, officials said that an unexpected replacement of the middle school roof and the North Dartmouth library will eat up most of its borrowing capacity. This means the $1.4 million stadium upgrade will have to wait unless other funding is secured.

The proposal was planned for Town Meeting discussions, but after discussions by the Capital Improvement Planning Committee, was taken off the agenda.

“We were disappointed that the fields won’t even be considered for our Fall Town Meeting, especially given the consensus of our last meeting that that was a priority,” said School Committee Chair Shannon Jenkins.

Town Administrator David Cressman explained that the town typically borrows no more than $5 million each year, but expenses for $5.9 million middle school roof replacement, the approximately $10 million North Dartmouth Library construction, and Public Works expenses will cost about $4 million. Cressman said that typically, the town saves the extra million for unexpected expenses, such as stabilizing the Old Southworth Library, which he expects to come up after Town Meeting members voted to keep the property.

Select Board member Stan Mickelson suggested building the new field and using it as a “revenue enhancer.”

The town could receive a good deal of money by renting the field out to organizations when it’s not being used, Mickelson said.

Finance Committee member David Tattlebaum added that more research could help fund the stadium.

“There’s dozens of these fields being built around the state. One of the things we can do is figure out what their choices were. These towns are in the same boat we are. Why not find out what they did?” he asked.

“The lighting is atrocious at best. The stadium itself is getting close to embarrassing,” said School Business Administrator Jim Kiely, pressing the importance of keeping it in the discussion.

Officials decided to form a committee to further research the options.