PICKENS — Pickens officials restructured their method for determining business license fees this year, but one councilman said Monday night that some of those fees may have been increased too much.

Councilman Fletcher Perry said that in some categories, the cost of a business license increased by 300 percent.

“In these economic times, that is way too much,” he said.

Plus, Perry said that in the city’s efforts to attract new businesses, council did not want to discourage anyone with license fees that are too high.

He said he hopes the finance committee can come up with a recommendation on how to possibly reduce some of the rates in time for city council’s December meeting.

Perry also made a recommendation on behalf of the city’s finance committee to approve a $20,000 fee for Summit Engineering to resubmit the city’s revised plans for the water plant rehabilitation to S.C. Rural Development.

Perry said council now plans to fix the water plant in phases and estimated the cost of the first stage will be around $4 million. This is in contrast to the $16 million city officials originally planned to spend on the plant at one time.

City Council also voted unanimously to start requiring city employees to help cover the cost of their health insurance.

“In these tough economic times, we’re going to have to have our employees pay a portion of their healthcare costs,” Perry said.

Council agreed to have employees pay 10 percent of their premiums and the city pick up the remaining 90 percent, effective Jan. 1.

That would cost each employee $44 per month, according to city administrator Katherine Brackett.

Mayor David Owens said they will look into finding cheaper insurance rates, and that if they did, it may allow council to vote to reverse the decision to have employees pay a portion of the premiums.

Brackett said that by having employees help out with the cost, the city will save about $20,000 per year.

“We don’t want to do it, but it’s fair and a responsible move for the city at this time,” she said.