COEUR d'ALENE - Coeur d'Alene City Council candidate Steve Adams said he got his wires crossed when he gave out wrong information at last week's candidates forum.

Adams, running against incumbent John Bruning and Amber Copeland for Seat 5, said at Wednesday's forum that the education corridor infrastructure project near the Fort Grounds was running $2 million to $3 million over projected costs.

That is not true. The project came in around $1.4 million under original estimates.

Adams apologized Monday for the error, saying he confused information he'd been discussing on a number of topics before the candidate debate.

"I just basically got my wires crossed," Adams said. "I was in a meeting and there were three different conversations going at once, McEuen Field and other things...I was stuck on the education corridor."

Adams couldn't say to what that $3 million figure was related. The meeting was between he and some of his supporters to discuss his campaign.

Adams said he did not give out the inaccurate information as a way to paint the project, the city, or Lake City Development Corp., the city's urban renewal agency and project funder, in a negative light.

"I apologize," he said. "I was mistaken; it was bad information."

The project is putting in around one mile of new roadways, including three roundabouts, through the North Idaho College campus. Phase 1A will cost around $3.69 million, not $5.1 million as JUB Engineers had projected. The winning bid was reported June 2 in The Press.

After Adams made the claim, Seat 1 candidate Adam Graves corrected him.

"It was a little flippant," Adams said of the flub. "I would say, before I say anything like that again I would be sure to do more research."

Mayor Sandi Bloem said she didn't "have any idea" where the $3 million figure would have come from, since most city projects are coming in under budget, not over.

She considered Adams' statements as an attack.

"He has shared that there is nothing we've done right," Bloem said Monday. "I assume he will attack anything we do."

LCDC Director Tony Berns called the misinformation a disservice to the agency and community as a whole, and as a candidate running for council, Adams should have been more careful with the facts.

"I'm very disappointed in Mr. Adams for making such an erroneous statement," Berns emailed The Press.

Adams has also stated that City Hall could have around 100 employees too many, based on more conservative ratios of privatization of services as published in an article by Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Adams hasn't said he would whack 100 jobs off the bat if he's elected, only that he would look to possibly trim some staff, looking at upper management positions such as assistants and deputy administrators as a start.

Bloem said comparing different cities based on numbers alone can be tricky, pointing to Post Falls, which doesn't have a fire department, compared to Coeur d'Alene, which has around 60 employees in its fire department.

"When it isn't fact based, and it isn't apples to apples comparison, the real story isn't being told," Bloem said. "It requires effort on a lot of people's parts to clear up untruths when they're said. ... I encourage any candidate to share facts and equal comparisons."