The North Marin Water District will push off a planned water rate hike and restructuring plan for Novato until fall in response to economic hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

After a nearly two-hour discussion, the district board of directors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to delay changes set to take effect July 1 to Oct. 1.

“There is a downside to this financially and we have got to keep the water district afloat — that’s No. 1, period,” director Rick Freitas said. “But we weren’t counting on this pandemic when we started these discussions and there is a lot of people hurting in our community.”