The vote to establish the Dingwall business improvement district has been put back from next month to early 2020.
A group of local business leaders decided to postpone the ballot to establish the Dingwall Bid to allow more time for the business plan to be finalised.
They say more time was required to ensure changes were made accurately and in line with the national legislative framework.
The decision comes after a period of extensive consultation with local businesses and will allow the project the time to make positive and effective changes to the proposal, the business leaders say.
Once the business plan is finalised in consultation with local businesses, it will go to ballot in early 2020.
Lorraine Chisholm of the Dingwall Means Business Bid project said: “We know there are some people yet to be persuaded about the value of a Bid for our area, but you just have to look to elsewhere in Scotland and the UK to what the evidence says – Bids work.
“If you look at the evidence from Bath, where they have significantly lowered trade waste costs, or Falkirk, where they have generated nearly £3 million for the town centre, or to Edinburgh, where Essential Edinburgh has created nearly £24 million in economic benefit over five years, Bids have proved an incredibly effective model for local economic development and better business results.”