The Delaware Area Career Center Board of Education has postponed its vote on a budget for its consolidation project until a January board meeting.

The board had originally planned on voting on a budget for the consolidation project at Thursday night’s meeting — after learning on Dec. 9 that the consolidation project would cost more than $10 million more than planned.

However, officials from the DACC said Tuesday that the vote had been postponed to the Jan. 21 board meeting.

“This is a very complex and lengthy contract,” said DACC Superintendent Mary Beth Freeman. “We want to allow enough time for thorough review and agreement. Our goal is to have the contract complete and give board members time to review it by the January board meeting.”

The Thursday board meeting will still take place at 7 p.m. in the board room at the DACC South Campus on Columbus Pike.

The board held a special meeting on Dec. 9 to hear a presentation from its architect firm, SHP Leading Designs, and the contractor for the consolidation project, Elford Construction. During the presentation, architects said that the previously discussed square footage of the consolidated campus, 184,000, would not be enough to account for student growth and improvements.

Architects said that because some labs would need to be expanded, the consolidated campus would need to be about 224,988 square feet to account for growing programs and increased enrollment.

Representatives from Elford Construction estimated the consolidation would cost $43,962,440, with total price of $46,939,524 to account for additional construction projects and contingencies.

DACC officials previously believed the consolidation project would cost about $35 million.

They added that these numbers would likely go down because the estimates assume all new equipment and furniture, and do not factor in equipment that will be brought to the combined campus.

DACC Treasurer Christopher Bell noted that the school has saved up $37 million to pay for the consolidation through fiscal discipline and good business practices, and told the board it would be possible to get a loan for the additional cost of the consolidation. The board did not discuss any type of tax issue for the additional construction cost.

The Jan. 21 meeting will be in the board room at the DACC’s South Campus at 6:30 p.m.