Construction bids submitted to build a $5 million detention center in Cortez were rejected by the Montezuma County commissioners Monday because all four were well over budget.

The detention center, to be built on a vacant lot north of the Justice Center, is being funded by a .45-cent sales tax approved by the voters last November.

The project attracted bids from three local contractors and one from New Mexico. Instead of negotiating with the lowest bidder, the commission voted to reject the proposals and put a less expensive project back out to bid. The new bids should be received within the next six weeks.

Construction, which was scheduled to start in mid-April, is now tentatively scheduled to begin in mid-June, according to Tom Weaver, the Montezuma County Administrator.

The two lowest bids for the 110-bed facility were submitted by Luther Construction Co., of Albuquerque ($5,455,821) and the Ute Mountain Ute’s Weeminuche Construction Authority ($5,552,711). Local contractors Colorado-Jaynes Construction Co. came in at $5,850,000, and FCI Construction Inc. submitted a bid of $5,647,000.

Separate construction bids to build modular-cells for the facility have already been submitted, but no award for that portion of the project — estimated to be an additional $435,000 — has been given as of yet.

The project must now be pared down somewhat by the county in order to bring it in line with the $5 million generated by the sales tax that is being used to secure bonds sold to finance the project.

Commissioners discussed eliminating the basement from the facility as one way to cut costs, or installing a heating and cooling system that is less costly than the $600,000 design originally planned for. That system works by pumping air into the earth to harness its inherent cooling and heating properties.