A judge this week ruled that Whitehall council members each must pay a nearly $9,000 surcharge to reimburse the borough as a result of a 2003 legal dispute over the awarding of three construction jobs in the borough.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Timothy O'Reilly said Tuesday that borough members improperly declared Osiris Construction Corp. a non-responsible bidder and barred the company from two sewer jobs and a tree-cutting project.

Osiris was lowest bidder on the sewer work, but the jobs went to two other companies. The judge said the tree-cutting work was improperly given to a resident, Nelson Buys, as a "professional services" job that didn't need to be bid.

Franco Moscatiello, father of Osiris owner Antonio Moscatiello and a resident of Whitehall, filed a taxpayer lawsuit in 2004 against the borough, charging that council members broke state law by not selecting the lowest responsible bidder.

The dispute stems from an incident in 1993, when residents complained about sewer work Osiris did and the borough sued.

The case was settled, but according to court papers, Antonio Moscatiello said council barred him from other work in 2001 even though the company had not admitted fault as part of the settlement and the borough had agreed to take no further action against it.

The judge said the borough paid $62,635 more than it should have as a result and ruled that the council members are each subject to a surcharge in the amount of $8,947.