Bills totaling $247,603.13 from a contractor performing work on the U.S. 80 bridge will be contested, Vicksburg Bridge Commissioners said Wednesday.

Since October, the commission has received invoices for rehab work by McAn Construction, hired by Kansas City Southern railway, to repair bracing and walkboards all across the span. Since then, the commission has either tabled discussion or decided not to pay about $400,000 in invoices.

Superintendent Herman Smith suggested sending a letter to the railroad to get the issue off the commission’s books, a move agreed upon by unanimous vote after receiving support from chairman Robert Moss.

&#8220This will go on forever until we get a different arrangement with the railroad,” Moss said.

The longstanding basic agreement between Warren County, which owns the bridge, and rail companies, is that per-car tolls are assessed for bridge use and that money, in turn, is used by appointed members of the bridge commission to provide bridge maintenance.

The commission and KCS have been at loggerheads over several issues, including per-car rate and how train cars are counted. KCS is also on record opposing any move by the county to plan or develop a pedestrian park on the bridge’s former roadbed.

After the meeting, Moss indicated that discussion about starting over with the lease may begin at the next meeting.

Terms set by the commission in September, which called for a $14 per car rate, have not been paid in KCS invoices. They have still used the previous rate of $4 per car for the first 125,000 cars per year and $3.75 for each car after that.

Tolls paid by the railroad for April calculated a rate of $3.89 per car after 125,000 cars, for a check total of $114,684. That calculation puzzled commissioners, along with the payment arriving two weeks late.

KCS has not responded to requests for comment.

In other business, the commission: