Castle Rock High School got some but not all of the break requested on its large January utility bill.

The City Council on Monday approved a new water leak forgiveness policy. The council also made the policy change retroactive to Jan. 1, in part to help the high school after a large leak warped the gym floor.

The new policy is stricter in some areas. For example, it no longer forgives charges driven up by a broken water faucet or hoses left on by mistake.

But the change also addresses a common complaint about sewer charges, especially on large leak bills. The city charges sewer rates based on water usage, but owners complained that shouldn't apply in a leak because the water in question often does not run down sewer drains.

The city used to forgive up to half the combined water and sewer bills for leaks, based on annual usage.

The new policy now will charge the full water usage bill but will forgive anything over the annual average for the sewer portion of the bill.

For Castle Rock High School, that would reduce the $13,567 bill to roughly $5,500, according to the policy. The exact bill amount has not yet been calculated by city staff. The city's old forgiveness policy would have set the bill at $7,900.

School Superintendent Susan Barker had asked that all of the sewer bill be forgiven, leaving the district with just the $4,300 water bill plus storm drain fees and taxes.

The school's average water/sewer bill is $2,000.

Any leak that occurred from Jan. 1 on is eligible for the new rates, though on small leak adjustment the change could be negligible, in some cases about $1, Councilman Ray Teter said when he proposed the change.

City staff will review the records and adjust accounts accordingly on the next bill, City Clerk Ryana Covington said.