Iron City Brewing and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority -- adversaries when the brewer wouldn't pay its bills, friends upon its 2007 emergence from bankruptcy court -- may be heading to court again after the authority board's decision yesterday to seek the highest possible payment on a disputed debt.

The board wants $1 million. The brewer has said it owes just $450,000. At issue is whether the brewer made meaningful improvements to its Lawrenceville plant before it shut it down and moved operations to Latrobe.

The brewer "let down the Water and Sewer Authority. They let down the workers at the brewery. And they let down the people of Pittsburgh at large," said Scott Kunka, an authority board member and Pittsburgh's finance director. He seconded board member and city Councilman Patrick Dowd's motion to pursue "any and all legal remedies" to get Iron City to pay.

Last month, authority Executive Director Michael Kenney put the debt at $600,000, saying $400,000 was forgiven based on some good-faith improvement efforts. Mr. Dowd, though, argued that the brewer made no meaningful improvements in its plant, and that the board never voted to reduce the debt.

Iron City President Tim Hickman, though, said his company "made a substantial investment" in the Lawrenceville plant. He would not say, though, how much that investment cost, compared to the $4 million the brewer once pledged to put into its now-abandoned keg line and boilers. "That information will be coming forthwith."

The brewer's 2007 escape from bankruptcy was possible only because the authority agreed to slash a $2.7 million water tab to $1.5 million, and then set a series of steps for writing off that obligation. The brewer paid back another $460,000, and $40,000 was waived, but much of the remaining $1 million is in dispute.

Yesterday Mr. Kenney said he made a mistake when he put the debt at $600,000, and agreed that there "was no board action taken" to reduce the debt. He did not know if the authority continues to have the right to put a lien on the brewer's Lawrenceville property.

Mr. Hickman said he was "very confident we'll be able to resolve it."

The authority could use the money. Mr. Kenney said that through May, it was $2 million short of its financial expectations, due mostly to lower-than-expected interest earnings. He said it might have to tap a reserve fund of around $40 million, but that it was too early to consider a rate increase.

"If our revenue does not exceed our expenses, then we'll have to take a look at a rate increase" next year, he said.