HUNTINGTON -- Water was on the minds of the Huntington City Council on Wednesday night as issues with a barge fleeting facility in the West End, water bill surcharge and the Huntington Sanitary Board's long-term control plan were discussed at the meeting.

The council passed a resolution authorizing the Huntington Sanitary Board to discontinue a $2 surcharge on customers' water bills. According to Huntington Sanitary Board vice chairman Jim Ashworth, the surcharge was enacted in 2004 to pay for past debts to the West Virginia Water Development Authority.

Recently, he said they were informed by the West Virginia Municipal Bond Commission that its debt to the agency was paid off and that there was approximately $100,000 in surplus funds from the surcharge.

The second section of the resolution would have authorized the Sanitary Board to use the $100,000 surplus toward paying West Virginia-American Water Co. for a billing mishap, but another resolution, sponsored by Councilman Garry Black, was passed to set aside the surplus money until the Public Service Commission of West Virginia could determine which water customers receive a refund and how much they would receive.

Ashworth said the mishap occurred when the water company forgot o withhold a 2 percent municipal excise tax.

The water company now claims that the Sanitary Board owes the water company more than $400,000.

Councilman Jim Insco said the surplus belongs to those who paid the surcharge.

"The money is due back to the citizens. If you over-collected, give it back," Insco said.

The board also prepared a letter to be presented by Mayor David Felinton, the board's chairman, to the council. The letter asked the Army Corps of Engineers for greater details on the barge-fleeting facility proposed by Campbell Transportation Co. of Clairton, Pa., that would stretch from 1st Street to near 7th Street West.

Three council members are scheduled to meet with the Corps of Engineers on Jan. 4. Though the previous deadline for public comment was set for Jan. 4, Brandi Jones, director of administration and finance, said the Corps postponed the deadline in order for the council to make its comments.