The Champaign City Council delayed action on bids for the building of the city’s proposed fire station in southwest Champaign, Tuesday after proposals came in nearly 25 percent over budget estimates.

The Council voted to put off making a decision whether to accept or reject bids until September 6 so staff could look over the proposals and examine funding and construction alternatives, City Manager Steven Carter said.

Councilman Tom Bruno said the city was operating with a flawed budget.

“The estimate was poorly done and unrealistically low,” Bruno said.

City Attorney Fred Stavins said the station was estimated to cost about $1.8 million.

“(The lowest bid) was something like four or five hundred thousand over,” Stavins said.

The city has several options to consider before next week’s meeting, Stavins said. Councilman Michael La Due suggested the building could be constructed without a full basement, which would lower costs and require the city to seek new bids.

“The bids were made with the expectation of building a full basement,” La Due said. “In the interest of good-faith bidding, we can’t accept a bid that was made with (possibly) incorrect expectations.”

Bruno said the council would try to keep the original plans for the building intact.

“The city council feels strongly about the importance of the basement,” Bruno said. “I don’t know what we’ll use it for, but the city is in this for the long run; we may need storage space or meeting rooms later on … A basement isn’t something you can put in later.”

Bruno said the city could try to cut corners in other areas of the station. One option would be to pave the surrounding area with blacktop instead of concrete, which is more expensive. The city could also choose to delay staffing the building for two or three months after its completion to recoup the lost expenses, Bruno said.

The proposed fire station has been in various stages of planning since 1996, when the Council voted to add two new stations to the Champaign Fire Department’s four-station configuration. A fifth fire station was opened at the corner of Mattis Avenue and Paula Drive in 1998.

The proposed station will be located at the corner of Windsor and Staley roads, and is expected to greatly reduce response time to fires in southwest Champaign, according to the council.

Carter said risks are inherent if the city chooses to rebid the station. Because of Hurricane Katrina and other factors, the new bids may be just as costly as the old ones, even without a basement or other amenities, Carter said.

“We don’t know what will happen with material costs if (we) re-bid,” Carter said. “We want to salvage the (existing) bid and … seek alternate funding options.”

Stavins said the city could legally choose to accept the lowest bid and then attempt to negotiate with the bidder in attempt to cut costs.