The Cortez City Council delayed a decision to award the Cortez Welcome Center expansion bid to Hensen Construction after learning that the project is slightly over budget.

Council members said Tuesday night that they would table the decision until the Sept. 26 council meeting so that the architect, construction company and Cortez Chamber of Commerce have time to work out the project’s details.

Cortez Chamber of Commerce Director Kristine Acott said that the bid came in over budget because of some confusion about the architect’s fees.

"There was a misunderstanding about whether the architect’s fees were included, or not, in the base budget that we had," said Acott. "The architect was under the impression that (the fees) were not included in the budget and I went back and did some research and, indeed, they were supposed to be — and that is exactly what has put us over budget," she said.

Acott said that the project is now roughly $15,000 over the initial $640,000 budget.

Last April the Colorado Department of Local Affairs awarded Cortez a $300,000 energy-impact grant to be used for renovating the existing Welcome Center building.

The city will loan the welcome center the $340,000 balance, which will be paid back at 5-percent interest.

The loan will be paid back through a hotel and motel bed tax over a period of eight to 10 years, according to city officials.

The renovations, which have been discussed since 1998, will allow the staff of the Montezuma County Economic Development Council, Cortez Chamber of Commerce, Cortez Welcome Center and Umbrella Tourism Council to all work together under the same roof.

"Right now the MCEDC and the Umbrella Tourism Council are both located in the Johnson Building. By having all of the offices together, our customers won’t have to go all the way to the other end of town for services," Acott said last April, adding that communication between the groups will be greatly improved.

Acott said that she, along with the architect and construction company, will be looking over the next couple of days to see if there is anything that can be cut out of the design in order to get back within the original cost parameters.

"We will meet with the architect and the low bidder on the project and just go over the plans again to see if there is any fluff stuff that we can cut," Acott said. "We’re just cutting it really close — and I’m very uncomfortable with that," she said.

The director said Wednesday that she was not sure of what, if anything, would be cut from the design first.

Another option would be for the city to apply for more grant money, Acott said.

"I’m going to do a little digging. There are some grants out there that are available to organizations such as the chamber —and some are specifically for building fund," said Acott. "At this point I don’t know what those (grant) deadlines would be or what the criteria is for applying."

Construction on the welcome-center expansion was expected to begin in October. "Depending on how things work out, that could still be doable," Acott said.