The Cortez Fire Protection District’s 2018 budget is a little tighter than usual, but it’s healthy, according to Fire Chief Jeff Vandevoorde. With the construction of the new fire station, the district’s money needed to stretch further, but the district was still able to roll over $300,000 from 2017. The construction of the fire station is on schedule, according to Vandevoorde, in part because of the unusually warm winter. The only delay in construction was attributed to holiday time off. “We should have no issues with anything we need to buy, or salaries or anything like that, so we don’t have to take any money out of our reserves to make ends meet with the budget,” Vandevoorde said.