Iron City Beer Will Flow, for Now
siliconinvestor.com
By DAN NEPHIN 12/11/2002 00:56:44 EST
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Iron City will continue to flow in the Steel City - at least until January.
Attorneys for the Pittsburgh Brewing Co., which makes Iron City and I.C. Light beers, and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority agreed Tuesday to try to resolve a $3.8 million billing dispute.
While both sides work toward a resolution, the authority said it won't make good on its threat to halt service.
"We will not cut off water. It was not our intention for employees to lose jobs. We want to look for a meaningful resolution," said Clifford Levine, the authority's attorney.
"We're going to continue to make beer," said owner Joseph Piccirilli, who led a group of investors that rescued the brewery from the brink of bankruptcy in 1995.
The parties will meet again in January. Until then, a temporary injunction issued last week prevents the authority from shutting off service.
The brewery's 250 jobs aren't in jeopardy, Piccirilli said, and the brewery will pay its November and December bills, which was part of the order signed by Allegheny County Judge Robert Gallo.
Piccirilli pledged that the brewery, which has been around for 142 years, will be around for another 142 years.
The authority, citing unpaid bills during 1999 and 2001, had attempted to foreclose on the company Nov. 30. In July 2000, the authority had filed liens against the brewery for money it is owed.
Levine said the brewery's unpaid bills, fines and administrative costs total $3.8 million. The brewery stopped making arrears payments in August when the authority threatened to foreclose on it.
Brewery attorney Robert Lampl called the agreement a good result for both sides, but said, "Obviously, we believe we owe a lot less."
He said the bill was more like "a couple million."
"We're going to have the bean counters and engineers count this," Lampl said.
Piccirilli said the brewery has received thousands of supportive e-mails. Pittsburgh Brewing Co. brews about six million cases each year. |
