Bids to build Dawson County’s new courthouse and administration building have come in at nearly half the projected cost.

The bids received last week for the 111,000-square-foot building were between $15.4 million and nearly $21 million, according to County Manager Kevin Tanner. Five of the six bids were between $15 million and 16 million.

That’s far less than the $30.2 million construction budget the county commission agreed to in 2008 with Rosser, an architect firm in Atlanta.

Voters approved extending the 1-cent sales tax to fund the project, which will be built adjacent to the existing courthouse on Shoal Creek Road.

County staff have worked with the architects and local elected officials for the past year to look for cost efficiency in the project.

“We eliminated wasted space to make good use of all space in the building to be efficient in all aspects of construction, from the positioning of the building on the property to the types of materials to be used in construction,” Tanner said.

“With the combination of these efforts and the economy, we were anticipating the bids coming in around $21 million.”

The low bid was from Winter Construction of Atlanta, which built the courthouse in Gilmer County and is constructing Lumpkin County’s new courthouse.

“Our staff is now meeting with the architects to review the bids and will be presenting the bids with a recommendation to the board of commissioners for their consideration on Monday,” Tanner said.

The board will hold a work session at 4 p.m. Monday in city hall. The meeting was changed from Thursday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday.