After considerable discussion, the early city council lowered the surcharge on water over 6 million gallons for the Zephyr Water Supply Corporation by $.50 from $3.29 to $2.79.

Richard Gist, director of the Zephyr Water Supply Corporation, asked the council to remove the surcharge as they had discussed in the past. He said he thought they had done away with the surcharge since they had not been billed for it until July when they were charged $3.29 per 1,000 gallons for 5 of the 11 million total gallons used.

City administrator Ken Thomas said the oversight in the surcharge came because there were two meters that were being read separately instead of combined. The Zephyr Water Supply Corporation paid for the full amount of water, but at the regular rate of $2.29 instead of the surcharge rate of $3.29, which the latest bill reflected.

After a failed motion by council member Janice Bush to remove the surcharge completely, council member Bennie Allcorn made a motion to reduce the surcharge rate by $.50 through the end of the city’s fiscal year, Sept. 30, retroactively effective through the last bill the Zephyr Water Supply Corporation received.

Allcorn said the council will further review the surcharge while discussing the 2010-2011 budget.

The surcharge will only be an issue until the pipe is laid and both entities begin buying treated water from the Brown County Water Improvement District.

In other business, the council awarded the bid for street improvements on Canal Street and the King’s Court/Longhorn Drive intersection to Ryan Equipment for $130,665 and appointed Ms. Suzanne Owens as chair person of the beautification commission.