Promising to underwrite costs, the DeKalb City Council approved a bid Monday for constructing a new fixed base operator building at the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport, 2100 E. Pleasant St., and officials hope to break ground in October.

The city will subsidize the $950,000 project through financing the construction internally, buying itself out and going into the bond market as a part of a larger bond issue, said DeKalb City Manager Mark Stevens.

Assuming a best-case scenario, in which an FBO tenant would pay for part of the costs, the city will save from $250,000 to $450,000 through internal financing, Stevens said.

He said that in a worst-case scenario, if the city does not have a tenant for the FBO, the taxpayer would have to bear the costs.

The lowest bidder, Diversified Municipal Services of Lebanon, Ind., estimated the cost of the project at $850,000. The final cost will be $950,000, after it becomes a bond issue, said Ron Naylor, DeKalb Public Works director.

Of the estimated $8,394 in monthly costs, including an 8uL percent interest charge, the city will subsidize $1,552 for site improvements.

The remaining $6,842 for building construction costs will be paid in part during a 20-year period by R&M Aviation, the FBO leasing the facility. However, the city also will subsidize this amount because R&M Aviation officials said they can pay only $4,500 per month the first year, $5,500 per month during the next three years, $6,500 per month during the subsequent four years and $8,000 per month thereafter.

Naylor said the 100-foot by 200-foot proposed FBO building includes office space, an area for airplane maintenance and repair and a hangar that would house three to seven private airplanes.

City officials do not want to pare down the building size because this would hinder the airport’s expansion, Naylor said.

“The amount of business and type of clientele has a lot to do with the type of airport,” he said. “With limited facilities, we limit the numbers of planes (capable of using the airport). No matter how hard the FBO tries and how cheap he sells the gas, he is limited (in what he can earn).”