Greeley Water and Sewer Tap Fees: Plant Investment Fees and Raw Water (2026)

Inside Greeley city limits, water and sewer service come from Greeley Water and Sewer, a city department that runs on customer and developer fees rather than taxes. A new single-family home on a standard lot (6,000 to 13,000 sq ft) with the usual 3/4-inch tap pays $26,400 in plant investment fees under the 2026 Rate Manual: a $16,900 water plant investment fee and a $9,500 sewer plant investment fee. The city’s storm drainage development fee adds $0.308 per square foot of roof, driveway and other hard surface. The caveat that moves the total most is raw water. Every lot has to bring water rights with it, three acre-feet per acre of land (a parcel over half an acre with one house is set at 1.5 acre-feet instead), and if the developer did not dedicate them the buyer pays cash in lieu at $57,000 per acre-foot, which is about $27,479 on a 7,000 sq ft lot.

Greeley tap and connection charges at a glance

The table below lists every Greeley row we recorded. Greeley does not charge single-family homes by tap size. It charges a share of the 3/4-inch tap value that depends on lot size and on whether the yard is watered with treated or non-potable water: 100% for standard and estate lots, 70% for medium lots of 4,500 to 5,999 sq ft, 60% for small lots and 50% for row houses and small-format lots. Only the 100% amount is printed as a dollar figure, so the smaller-lot rows are our arithmetic and are marked for review. The raw water row is a price per acre-foot, not a per-home amount, and is listed under other published fees because many subdivisions satisfy it with water rights at final plat. The meter charge row is from the city’s 2025 sheet.

What a new Greeley house pays: worked example

The water plant investment fee comes from Greeley Municipal Code Sec. 20-262, which bases the residential fee on lot type, and the amounts in the 2026 Rate Manual from Greeley Water and Sewer. The sewer plant investment fee is the minimum set by the Water and Sewer Board under Sec. 20-325, and the city’s 2025 tap fee sheet says it is charged by the size of the domestic water tap. Raw water cash in lieu is three acre-feet per acre of lot times $57,000, which works out to about $3.93 per square foot of lot.

Assumptions: a detached home inside city limits, a 3/4-inch tap, the yard watered from the potable system, 3,500 sq ft of impervious surface for the storm drainage fee (our assumption; your site plan sets the real number), and a building permit pulled after March 1, 2026. Three lot sizes, each shown with and without the raw water payment:

Greeley connection charges by lot size, 2026 (Rate Manual and 2026 Development Impact Fee Schedule)

For the 7,000 sq ft lot, the arithmetic is $16,900 + $9,500 + $1,078 = $27,478, and 7,000 ÷ 43,560 × 3 = 0.482 acre-foot × $57,000 = $27,479 for the water. On a standard lot, water rights are half of the cash total. Two details change the water fee. A lot watered from a shared non-potable system pays 75% of the tap value on a standard lot, or $12,675, and a lot on house-to-house non-potable irrigation pays 50%, or $8,450. The 2025 tap fee sheet also listed a $304 meter charge for a single-family home; we found no 2026 amount, and the city describes meters as a pass-through of its purchase cost.

How Greeley compares with Fort Collins and Erie

All three cities charge a capacity fee and require water rights, but they price them differently. The Fort Collins page shows $8,354 in plant investment fees for a 6,000 sq ft lot, with water rights at $63,800 per acre-foot on top. Greeley’s $26,400 in plant investment fees on a standard lot is $18,046 more than that Fort Collins example, although Greeley’s cash price per acre-foot is $6,800 lower. The Erie page puts a 3/4-inch tap at $28,012 without water rights and $80,212 with Erie’s $52,200 fee in lieu of water dedication. Greeley’s 7,000 sq ft example is close to Erie before water ($27,478 against $28,012) and $25,255 lower with water paid in cash ($54,957 against $80,212).

What is not included in Greeley fees

Greeley’s website says the connection from the curb stop or the sewer main to the building is the owner’s responsibility, and the code makes the applicant pay for the meter, labor and materials to make the tap. The plant investment fees do not cover that work, the plumbing permit or the city’s police, fire, park, trails and transportation impact fees. The largest-home tier of those five (1,801 sq ft or more of heated space) adds up to $16,872 in 2026. These private-side figures are national estimates, not Greeley prices (methodology), and the per-foot numbers already include trenching:

• Water service line: $30–$150 per foot, typical $50. At 60 feet, about $3,000.
• Sewer service line: $50–$250 per foot, typical $100. At 60 feet, about $6,000.
• Street cut or bore: $1,000–$10,000 per crossing, typical $4,000.

We did not collect electric or gas charges for Greeley; line extension costs are quoted per project by the serving utility. Enter your lot and line lengths in the calculator:

Paying Greeley fees: timing and process

Water rights dedicated as shares are due at final plat, and Greeley accepts only certain sources: Greeley-Loveland system shares, Colorado-Big Thompson units, Terry Ranch credits, and Greeley Irrigation Company shares for non-potable use. The city’s raw water page says cash in lieu and Terry Ranch credits must accompany the building permit. Plant investment fees and tap installation costs are paid no later than building permit issuance under Secs. 20-263 and 20-265. After payment, the city drills the tap and sets the meter. The storm drainage and other city impact fees are also collected with the building permit.

What could change in Greeley

• Plant investment fees usually change on March 1. The April 2026 edition of the 2026 Rate Manual prints $16,900 and $9,500 under “March 1 Through Feb 28” with no year. A January 2026 copy labeled the same figures March 1, 2025 to Feb 28, 2026, but the city’s March 2025 sheet listed $15,000 and $8,650 for 2025, and the city’s November 2025 impact fee memo said the Water and Sewer Board would adopt the 2026 plant investment fees in December. We therefore read $16,900 and $9,500 as the fees for March 1, 2026 through Feb 28, 2027. The city has not printed that year range, so confirm before you budget.
• The cash-in-lieu price is set by Water and Sewer Board motion and reviewed once a year. It was $56,500 per acre-foot in the March 2025 city sheet and $57,000 in the 2026 Rate Manual.
• The storm drainage fee fell 2.22%, from $0.315 to $0.308 per impervious square foot, on March 1, 2026. The Water and Sewer Rate Manual still prints an older $.29; the Finance Department schedule is the current one.

Common questions about Greeley fees

Related guides for Greeley

Colorado utility connection costs · Fort Collins plant investment fees · Erie water and sewer tap fees · Denver Water tap fees · tap fee vs impact fee · utility connection cost calculator

Official documents behind the Greeley figures

• 2026 Rate Manual (Development; Cash-In-Lieu of Raw Water Dedication), Greeley Water and Sewer. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• 2026 Development Impact Fee Schedule, City of Greeley Finance Department. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• Raw Water Dedication Requirements and 2025 Tap Fees, City of Greeley. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• Municipal Code Title 20, Chapter 3, Article III, Division 5 (Secs. 20-254 to 20-265), City of Greeley. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• Municipal Code Sec. 20-325 (sewer plant investment fees), City of Greeley. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• Development Fees and Raw Water, Greeley Water and Sewer. Checked Sep 24, 2026.