The Sarasota County Commission approves the service assessment rates annually during the budget preparation and adoption process. Public hearings are held to obtain input from residents.

See current Stormwater Environmental Utility Service Area on the map.

Current Rate Structure Service Assessments

The Stormwater Service Assessment will contain two separate components. The first component – the Base Charge – will fund the County's fixed, baseline Stormwater Utility Area-wide administration, customer service, and regulatory compliance costs, which do not vary based upon the amount of Impervious Area on a particular Tax Parcel and, accordingly, will be generally allocated equally among all Tax Parcels of Assessed Property within the Stormwater Utility Area on a per Tax Parcel basis. The second component – the Impervious Charge -- will fund the County's Stormwater Management Services provided to Developed Property, which contain more than 249 square feet of Impervious Area and put both a greater burden on the County's Stormwater Conveyance System and necessitate a greater level of service from the Stormwater Environmental Utility. The second component will, accordingly, be generally allocated among Tax Parcels of Development Property on a Net BU basis. 

Service Assessments FY25 Rates
Base Charge $31.41 / Parcel
Impervious Charge $16.35 / BU*

* BU = 500 sq ft of impervious

 
Stormwater Billing Units (BU) Calculations
Each 500 square feet of Impervious Area shall be used to calculate the number of BUs attributable to each Tax Parcel of Developed Property.     

Base Charge
The Stormwater Base Service Cost provides a uniform level of service to all Assessed Property and because these services are geared toward fixed cost, baseline, utility-wide administration, customer service, and regulatory compliance, including Total Maximum Daily Load reductions, development regulations oversight, and NFIP/CRS qualifying activities, the cost of such services is not dependent on the size of the Tax Parcel, the use of the Tax Parcel, or the amount of Impervious Area on the Tax Parcel.

Impervious Charge
The Impervious Charge includes direct operational costs, engineering, planning, capital equipment, and projects for maintenance and operation of the Stormwater Conveyance System that are necessitated by the existence of Impervious Area that impedes or restricts infiltration of rainfall into the soil, which then increases the need for County services and facilities to convey, retain, and treat the increased volume of Stormwater runoff from Developed Property.