A class-action lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the city of San Diego, the Public Utilities Department and the city council, alleging the city misused taxpayer funds to pay for the city’s new smart water meters. The legal action alleges the city’s Public Utilities Department fostered an “illegal financing scheme” by using municipal sewer funds to pay for the advanced metering infrastructure, also known as the “AMI smart water meter program”. NBC 7 Responds has been investigating the smart meter program since last July and has revealed problems with meter installations and questions surrounding the financing behind retrofitted water meters.