While an arbitration hearing still is months away, the costs of fighting the builder of the Farrell sewer plant over liquidated damages continue to grow.

City council and Conti Corp. of Lowellville, Ohio, have agreed to turn their dispute over to an arbiter.

Conti was hired in March 1998 to expand the Broadway wastewater treatment plant to about twice its capacity for a bid of $1,359,000.

The contract called for Conti to finish the work by March 19, 1999, but the job wasn't completed until the end of the year.

The city withheld $22,000 from Conti for completing the work behind schedule.

"We're still in the preliminary stages" of arbitration, said city solicitor Stephen Mirizio.

Both sides are furnishing documents to the other, he said.

"I would anticipate the hearing sometime in March," Mirizio said.

The city has paid $6,400 to the American Arbitration Association for the city's share of the cost of an arbiter and, with the $2,354 approved Monday, about $5,500 to Reed Smith LLP, the Pittsburgh law firm hired to handle the city's case.