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Homeowners in the North Valley are upset over an increase in their water bills that they claim was hidden from them when they purchased their homes.
Residents in Anthem recently filed a lawsuit against Del Webb and Pulte Homes, as well as Arizona American Water Company in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Homeowners say their water bill recently increased by an average of $40 dollars which they say was part of a plan hatched by Pulte and the water company.
The lawsuit alleges Pulte and the water company agreed to a plan to raise homeowners' water rates to re-coup the 100 million dollars it cost build Anthem's water system.
The lawsuit alleges Pulte Homes excluded the cost of the water infrastructure in Anthem from each home's purchase price in order to keep those home prices low.
"Under Arizona law, Pulte should have told homeowners the cost of the infrastructure for water and wastewater was not included in the price of the home," said attorney Stephen Weber.
"You expect it to be," added Weber.
The lawsuit seeks approximately $100 million in damages.
"A rate increase is fair, everything is going up," said homeowner Spike Goodman. "But to have us pay their debt, that's not right."
Attorneys handling the case estimate each of Anthem's ten thousand residents would have to pay ten thousand dollars to cover the cost of Anthem's water and sewer system.
"If someone would have come to us while we were negotiating this house and said 'oh by the way' it's going to cost you another ten thousand dollars, you're going to pay for the water infrastructure, we'd have walked away," admitted Goodman.
Todd Walker, a spokesperson for Arizona American Water Company, declined to comment on pending litigation.
