City officials appealed Wednesday a federal judge’s rejection of a $575 million settlement offer for thousands of workers who got sick at the site of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.

Lawyers for the city and the contractors who handled the cleanup of the World Trader Center site filed the papers challenging the federal Judge's decision.

Last month, Judge Alvin Hellerstein said that the city’s original settlement did not offer enough money for the 10,000 plaintiffs and that the deal needed to be renegotiated.

The original deal said a neutral third party was expected to decide individual cash payments, which could range from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million. The terms also said that 95 percent of the workers had to agree to the deal.

The judge raised questions about sizable legal fees that would be paid out to attorneys.

"I absolutely 110 percent support Judge Hellerstein’s involvement in this, he’s an advocate for the September 11th first responder community, he’s made it his business to make sure that the fair and equitable deal come down the pike and he stood up on Monday again, he gave these lawyers a chance to step up and give him ideas about how to better proceed," said retired New York City Firefighter Kenny Specht.

Lawyers from both sides have questioned whether Hellerstein had the authority to grant the final approval for the settlement.

In a statement, city attorney James E. Tyrell says that the judge’s orders are "...impeding the progress we have made and are destroying the ability to provide compensation now to the deserving plaintiffs."