The Bakersfield City Council met Wednesday night to discuss sewer rate increases and infrastructure improvements following a series of community meetings where residents shared their concerns about the city’s sewer problems.
“The feedback we received from residents was predominantly that they understand that a rate increase was inevitable — it just was the rate at which we were increasing it,” said Manpreet Kaur, vice mayor for Ward 7.
In April, the city proposed a plan that would have raised costs for single-family homes from $239 to $950 per year. The council put that plan on hold and hired consultants to conduct a full cost-of-service study to ensure costs are fairly distributed and adequate to cover future infrastructure needs…