Saving money with a lower mortgage on a new home sounds like a great idea. But your dollars will not go very far if you are only making minimum wage.

One Bloomington faith based group hopes to send a strong message to the city about adopting a living wage for support workers.

These members of the Central Illinois Organizing Project say Bloomington security, janitors and seasonal workers should get paid no less than $9.50 an hour.

"It's a matter of justice. I think the working poor is a bad phrase because if people are working they shouldn't have to be so poor that the world comes to an end practically if they have a big medical emergency or something like that," said Joan Edgren with Central Illinois Organizing Project.

CIOP members spent the summer collecting signatures on petitions calling for a living wage. During a rally at Withers Park in downtown Bloomington Monday they urged the city council to do the right thing.

"People that are not being paid a living wage they're often on public assistance, they're often having to go to medical emergency. So we as taxpayers are already paying for a lot of these costs. We 're paying for them through social welfare. Isn't it better to pay people up front," said Mike Matejka with Great Plains Laborers District Council.

The group collected about 1750 signatures, only 1496 are required for the issue to go up for a referendum.

It would be non–binding on the November ballot. CIOP marched from the park to the election commissioners office across the street to deliver the package to director Charlene Stanford. Stanford says if the signatures are not challenged they will go on the ballot.

That's when CIOP hope residents will send a strong message about increasing wages to the city council.