ESCONDIDO -- The discovery of American Indian remains and a possible funding shortfall have prompted city officials to delay the projected completion date for the Citracado Parkway "connector" until mid-2013, more than a year after the new Palomar Medical Center is slated to open nearby.

City officials said Tuesday that they are doing everything possible to expedite breaking ground on the half-mile section of road, which they had previously hoped to finish just after the new hospital is scheduled to open in early 2012.

But hospital officials complained that the city has not placed enough emphasis on the timely completion of the connector road, which will dramatically improve access from the south to the new 11-story hospital.

"We're frustrated that Citracado will be delayed, especially since all of this was agreed upon before we even broke ground on the new hospital," said Ted Kleiter, a Palomar Pomerado Health trustee. "We've worked very hard to do the things we said we'd do, and we'd like to hear something more positive from the city."

Ed Domingue, the city's director of engineering services, said city officials have faced numerous hurdles on the project. They include discovery of an ancient American Indian tooth near the projected path of the road, and efforts to work with local tribal leaders to either preserve the site where the tooth was discovered last fall, or move the tooth to an official burial ground.

Other hurdles include the overall cost of the project, which Domingue estimated Tuesday as "somewhere between $26 million and $36 million." The hospital district has given the city $13 million in cash for the project, and another $6 million is expected to come from sales taxes generated by the district moving its supply warehouse from San Diego to Escondido.

But Domingue said Tuesday it was unclear how the city will pay for the rest of the new road, which will close the large gap in Citracado that extends from West Valley Parkway up to Andreasen Drive and Harmony Grove Road.

Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler said the city is moving as quickly as possible on the Citracado extension and another project affecting access to the new hospital -- construction of a new Nordahl Road interchange with Highway 78.

Pfeiler said she expects the Nordahl project to be done before the hospital opens thanks to money from the federal government and other sources. She did not provide a time estimate for Citracado, but said the issues with the tooth were more worrisome than money problems.

However, leaders of the San Pasqual tribe said Tuesday that they expected the tooth issue to be resolved quickly.

Dave Toler and Johnny Bear Contreras acknowledged that different tribes have expressed different opinions about how to handle the tooth, but both men said there was no major conflict among local tribes and that they did not expect any "struggle."

Carmen Mojado of the San Luis Rey tribe did not return a phone call Tuesday.

Jon Brindle, the city's planning chief, declined to discuss how city officials were dealing with the tooth controversy because he said the issue was extremely sensitive for tribal leaders.

Brindle said an environmental impact study for the new road was well under way. But he said issues left to be decided include deciding whether to annex the land from the county to the city, whether a nearby industrial park would be included in the study and concerns related to crossing Escondido Creek.

When Domingue told hospital officials about the delay last month, Palomar Pomerado Health chief executive Michael Covert said the city's failure could jeopardize the overall memorandum of understanding that the city and hospital forged in 2006.

Covert could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but Kleiter said Covert's comment was not a threat.

"He made that comment to stress the importance of Citracado" as part of the memorandum, Kleiter said. "We want the city to place as much importance on this as we do."

The memorandum gives the city 10 years to complete the Citracado extension after all of the necessary funding is acquired, so the delay does not appear to violate the agreement. But the agreement also says the city will "diligently and promptly" move forward on the project and that it will be one of the city's "highest priority" transportation projects.

Call staff writer David Garrick at 760-740-5468.