City of Sacramento Water and Sewer Development Fees and Tap Charges (2026)

Inside the City of Sacramento, the city’s Department of Utilities (DOU) provides water and city sewer service and adds its development fees to the building permit invoice. A new single-family home with a 3/4-inch water development fee, a residential easement tap and a meter pays about $20,466 in DOU charges if it is outside the combined sewer area, or $23,732 if it is inside it, under the schedule for July 1, 2026 to January 21, 2027. Which sewer area the lot is in is the key local question, because only one of the two city sewer development fees applies. Charges from the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (Regional San), where they apply, are not included in these totals.

Official fees at a glance

All of the rows below come from the DOU Residential Fee Schedule for July 1, 2026 through January 21, 2027. Read them in three groups. The development fees (water, sewer and drainage) are the capacity charges and make up most of the bill; note that the table shows two sewer development fees, and a home pays one or the other. The service installation rows are what the city charges to make the physical taps and set the meter. The small rows (construction water use, erosion and sediment control, plan check) are per-project charges.

Worked example: a new single-family home

Assumptions: a detached home on a vacant lot with no existing city service, a 3/4-inch water development fee, a residential 1-inch easement water tap and meter (the tap size the schedule lists), a 4-inch easement sewer tap, and no plan-check hours. Three cases:

Estimated City of Sacramento DOU charges, schedule 07/01/26 to 01/21/27 (excludes Regional San and drainage fees)

The combined-area home pays $3,266.10 more on the sewer line ($5,936.84 − $2,670.74). The 1-inch water development fee adds $440.37 over 3/4 inch.

The drainage development fee depends on added impervious area and on the drainage area. The schedule also lists $0.19 per sq ft for a pumped basin and $0.12 per sq ft for a gravity basin; if one of those applied, a home adding 2,500 sq ft of roof and paving would pay $475 or $300, which would bring case A to $20,940.87 or $20,765.87. In the combined sewer area the fee is $4.15 per sq ft of increased imperviousness, and the schedule says it is offset by the combined-area sewer development fee. We did not add it to case B because the offset is calculated by the city; ask DOU for the net figure.

What these fees don’t include

The city’s easement taps split the work: the contractor excavates and restores pavement for the water tap, and exposes the sewer line and installs the connection for the sewer tap, while the city makes the taps and installs the corporation stop, pipe to the point of service, meter box and meter. So the contractor’s excavation, the private water line from the meter to the house, the private sewer line, and the building department’s plumbing permit are extra. National estimates (methodology):

• Water line from meter to house: $30–$150 per foot, typical $50. At 40 feet, about $2,000.
• Sewer line to the city connection: $50–$250 per foot, typical $100. At 50 feet, about $5,000.
• Street cut and restoration: $1,000–$10,000 per crossing, typical $4,000.
• Trenching in normal soil: $4–$15 per foot.

How and when you pay

DOU adds its impact fees to the building permit invoice, so they are paid when the permit is issued, not when the meter is set. The schedule gives credit for existing water service connections, which lowers the water development fee on a lot that already has service. Plan review by DOU is billed at $205 per hour of review time.

The residential fee schedule is published for a date range. The amounts on this page apply to permits in the July 1, 2026 to January 21, 2027 window.

Changes to watch

• The 2023 utility fee increase is being phased in, and the phase-in ends January 22, 2027. Expect a new residential fee schedule on that date; the amounts above are published only through January 21, 2027.
• Regional San and SASD connection fees are not tracked here yet. We will add them when we can verify their current schedules.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

tap fees by city · Portland SDCs · Seattle SDCs · sewer connection cost · new construction utility costs · utility connection cost calculator

Sources

• Residential Fee Schedule: Residential Fee Information 07/01/26 to 01/21/27, City of Sacramento Department of Utilities. Checked Sep 24, 2026.