The city of Auburn could have to help pay for a hazardous waste contamination incident in Niagara Falls despite having not violated any regulations.

City officials will decide Thursday whether or not to give $2,000 as part of a settlement agreement and avoid litigation for disposing of hazardous waste in 1987 at the Frontier Chemical Royal Avenue Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility.

The city at the time transferred 168 gallons of waste to the facility, and did so legally and properly, Corporation Counsel John Rossi said Thursday. But environmental regulators took action in the 1990s against the facility for uncontrolled release of contaminants into the surrounding soil and groundwater.

State and federal environmental laws dictate that any party that has disposed of waste at a facility is partially responsible if a leak or other incident occurs there. That means, despite the fact that the city did not break any laws, it is legally liable in part for the contamination in Niagara Falls, Rossi said.

"It's a tough standard, I think because of the tremendous cost that is involved," Rossi said.