After receiving multiple bids over budget, the Selma City Council came to an agreement during its Thursday work session on a method to finish the Riverfront Amphitheater’s construction.

The city received three bids for the amphitheater’s completion, which includes selective demolition, masonry construction, acoustical ceiling tiles and other items. The lowest of the three bids came in at more than $1 million from Cooper Brothers Construction in Selma. Through a 2009 bond issue and Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs grant, the city set aside just over $800,000 for the project, leaving a significant deficiency in money for completion

Instead of rejecting bids because of over pricing, the council unanimously agreed to accept Cooper Brothers’ bid and renegotiate on three items, which would lower the pricing.

“They were all significantly over the amount of city funds available,” Benderson said. “But there are three alternatives and, if we took out those three, the price would come down to $965,000.”

Benderson said the city could ask Copper Brothers not to include a retaining concrete wall around the amphitheater’s front, an overhead door that would secure the stage when not in use and minor amenities in the dressing room.

“Without those three things, it would still have the same amount of function,” he said. “Of course, ideally, we would like to have it all.”

The city council solved it’s funding quandary by deciding to designate a portion of a half-cent sales tax fund to pay for Cooper Brothers’ bid, but the decision didn’t come without a lengthy discussion.

“Let me refresh my memory,” Ward 1 Councilman Cecil Williamson said to Mayor George Evans. “Did you not stand there and tell us we were going to get it completed with the money we had?”

Evans answered Williamson by saying initial estimates placed the amphitheater’s completion cost within city funding amounts, but Evans said he couldn’t control how much contractors decide to bid on projects.

“Sure, it concerns me,” Evans said about the over-budget price. “The council is in control of funding and the only thing I can do is ask you to do it or don’t do it.”

Without funding the project, Evans said the city would be stripped of a $250,000 ADECA grant because of the lengthy time it has taken to complete the amphitheater, which started construction in 2012.

“I don’t think we have much choice about the amphitheater,” Williamson said. “I think you ought to just bite the bullet and take all that money from the slush fund and get it completed.”

One potential concern is a measure the council put in place earlier in 2014 to ensure employee bonuses. The measure prevents withdrawals from the half-cent fund once it drops below $450,000.

Williamson said the measure wouldn’t be a concern because the half-cent tax fund currently totals about $600,000 and the needed money wouldn’t be withdrawn all at the same time. Instead, it would be withdrawn over a period of multiple months as phases of construction wrap up.

Evans said the council must first approve Cooper Brothers’ bid during its Tuesday meeting before anything becomes official.

Near the end of Thursday’s work session, the council placed the bid approval on its consent agenda.

With an approval Evans said construction could still wrap up by December, but could also last until January or February.