Attorney fees for the lawsuit against the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s roundabout decision will not come out of the town’s annual operating budget, West Tisbury selectmen said this week.

“I think it’s better not to try to budget . . . extraordinary legal events,” selectman Cynthia Mitchell said at the board’s meeting, held on Tuesday this week. “It ought to be raised separately not as part of the budget. And in that way you get the opportunity to ask the voters how do you feel about such a lawsuit.”

Selectman Richard Knabel agreed.

“We can’t incur expenses before an appropriation,” he said.

The decision came a few minutes before the selectmen went into executive session with special counsel Richard Renahan to discuss legal strategy in the appeal. Mr. Renehan is representing West Tisbury and Edgartown in a joint appeal, which was filed in Dukes County superior court last week. The two towns seek to invalidate the commission’s Oct. 6 decision to approve the roundabout for the blinker intersection in Oak Bluffs.

“We had an honest discussion with special counsel about the circumstances challenging the commission and he will advise us in due course,” selectman Richard Knabel said yesterday of the closed-door session.

Town administrator Jennifer Rand said she budgeted for $50,000 in legal fees for next year, $5,000 more than this year.

“Day-to-day legal operations are now more burdensome, we just need more counsel than we used to,” she said. “I do not budget for the unexpected because you can’t.”