Homeowners in Delano learned Monday their water bills will be going up despite a big effort to try and stop the city council from approving the increase. Earlier this month, angry homeowners presented the city council with 5,318 signatures on a petition opposing the rate hike.
The city announced Monday 4,048 of those signatures are valid. 4,643 were needed to stop the rate hike.
Upon hearing that, the Delano City Council voted today to implement the water rate increase which amounts to 15 dollars more a month per homeowner for the first year. Over the next five years, it will eventually be an additional 65 dollars a month.
The city says the money is needed to start paying off 53 million dollars in loans and for water and utility infrastructure improvements.
Homeowners say they're not done fighting.
"It's kind of amazing that there would be over 700 signatures that were not valid, or more than that. Who knows what they're saying? Knowing that the community worked very hard to pick up the signatures themselves and we were very well-instructed on how this was gonna happen," said Lupe Martinez with the Center for Race, Poverty, and the Environment.
"We had three petitions signed by the same individual, three different signatures, three different everything. So now it makes us question the 4,000. So we're obligated to take this a step further and have this reviewed by maybe a forensic organization," said Delano City Councilman Joe Aguirre.
Aguirre says the findings of that review will then be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office.
Homeowners plan to ask the city for a list of the invalid signatures and do their own investigation.
The city announced Monday 4,048 of those signatures are valid. 4,643 were needed to stop the rate hike.
Upon hearing that, the Delano City Council voted today to implement the water rate increase which amounts to 15 dollars more a month per homeowner for the first year. Over the next five years, it will eventually be an additional 65 dollars a month.
The city says the money is needed to start paying off 53 million dollars in loans and for water and utility infrastructure improvements.
Homeowners say they're not done fighting.
"It's kind of amazing that there would be over 700 signatures that were not valid, or more than that. Who knows what they're saying? Knowing that the community worked very hard to pick up the signatures themselves and we were very well-instructed on how this was gonna happen," said Lupe Martinez with the Center for Race, Poverty, and the Environment.
"We had three petitions signed by the same individual, three different signatures, three different everything. So now it makes us question the 4,000. So we're obligated to take this a step further and have this reviewed by maybe a forensic organization," said Delano City Councilman Joe Aguirre.
Aguirre says the findings of that review will then be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office.
Homeowners plan to ask the city for a list of the invalid signatures and do their own investigation.