Saratoga Springs, Utah Water, Sewer and Irrigation Impact Fees (2026)

The City of Saratoga Springs provides drinking water, pressurized irrigation (secondary water), sewer collection and storm drainage, and sewage is treated by the regional Timpanogos district. For a typical new single-family home, the city’s own rates add up to about $20,820 in connection and impact fees (our worked example below, which assumes a quarter-acre plat share): $10,165.55 in per-home fees (the four impact fees due with the building permit application plus the $600 meter fee) and about $10,650 paid when the subdivision plat is recorded. Water rights add about $8,120 more unless the developer deeds its own. The caveat that matters most: the largest charge, the pressurized irrigation impact fee, is billed per irrigable acre at plat recordation, normally to the developer, so on a finished lot it is likely reflected in the lot price rather than billed to you.

Saratoga Springs connection fees at a glance

The table lists every fee we could confirm in city documents. Most amounts come from the city’s Impact Fees and Water Costs for Residential Development summary (fiscal year 2025-2026, last updated March 2, 2026). The meter fee comes from the Consolidated Fee Schedule. Rows marked per acre show the rate, not what one lot pays; the worked example does that math. Water rights are listed under other fees because many developers deed rights instead of paying. The CUWCD water right cost is marked for review because the city labels it a FY 2024-2025 cost that resets every July 1.

Worked example for a single-family home in Saratoga Springs

Assumptions: a detached home with a 3/4-inch drinking water lateral, source water bought from Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD, the city template’s default), the base fire flow charge, and a lot outside the South Zone 2 special improvement district. Case A uses the city’s own typical home: 0.24 irrigable acre, as assumed in the February 2025 Pressurized Irrigation Impact Fee Analysis; the quarter acre of gross plat area used for storm drain is our assumption, not a city figure. Case B is a half-acre lot, counting only the lot itself; its 0.32 irrigable acre is our own estimate, explained below the table.

Saratoga Springs utility fees for one new home (city summary updated March 2, 2026; meter fee from the Consolidated Fee Schedule)

The per-acre lines: 0.24 × $41,694 = $10,006.56 and 0.25 × $2,585 = $646.25 in Case A. For Case B, we applied the city plat worksheet’s 64 percent irrigable factor for lot area to a half-acre lot: 0.5 × 0.64 = 0.32 irrigable acre. That is our derived assumption, not a city-published figure; the city measures your actual plat. It gives 0.32 × $41,694 = $13,342.08, plus 0.5 × $2,585 = $1,292.50 for storm drain. The worksheet also counts 27 percent of street right-of-way and 90 percent of open space, so a real subdivision’s share per lot will be somewhat higher than the lot-only figure.

Two choices change the building-permit total. If the unit uses the city’s well water right credits instead of CUWCD water, the drinking water impact fee is $2,465 instead of $2,019 ($446 more), but the $5,482.20 CUWCD water purchase does not apply. A 1-inch meter costs $700 instead of $600, and the impact fee analyses rate it at 1.67 units: $3,372 for CUWCD drinking water and $2,487.55 for city sewer, about $2,450 more in total.

How Saratoga Springs compares with Lehi

Next door, Lehi’s water, secondary water, sewer and storm drain fees total $10,660.53 for a home on a quarter-acre lot. Saratoga Springs’ comparable figure for its typical home is $20,818.36, about $10,160 more. Both cities pass through the same $5,793 Timpanogos treatment fee, and their per-home charges outside the per-acre irrigation and storm drain fees are not far apart: $10,165.55 in Saratoga Springs against $8,903.28 in Lehi for culinary water, city sewer, the Timpanogos fee and the irrigation lateral. Most of the gap is pressurized irrigation. Lehi charges $5,638 per acre with a quarter-acre minimum, or $1,409.50 on a quarter acre; Saratoga Springs charges $41,694 per irrigable acre, or $10,006.56 for its typical home. Saratoga Springs also prices water rights in dollars, where Lehi’s code states acre-feet to convey and publishes no dollar fee-in-lieu.

What is not included in Saratoga Springs fees

These charges buy capacity in the city’s systems, the meter and, at plat, water rights. They do not pay for the pipes on your lot, the trench, the plumbing permit or the building permit. National estimates (methodology), which include trenching:

• Water service line: $30–$150 per foot, typical $50. At 50 feet, about $2,500.
• Sewer lateral: $50–$250 per foot, typical $100. At 50 feet, about $5,000.
• A separate pressurized irrigation line adds to the service-line cost; the city documents do not price it.
• Street cut or bore: $1,000–$10,000 per crossing, typical $4,000.

Electric service is not covered either. The city documents we read list no electric connection or impact fees, so any power line extension charge comes from the electric utility and is not in these totals.

The calculator below lists the two per-acre impact fees without an amount and leaves them out of its total. Type them into their quote boxes yourself: $10,006.56 for irrigation and $646.25 for storm drain in the typical case.

When you pay Saratoga Springs connection fees

The city splits collection into two points. The drinking water, fire flow, city sewer and Timpanogos sewer impact fees are paid with the building permit application, and the Building Department sets the final amount at that stage; the city calls its worksheets unofficial estimates. The pressurized irrigation and storm drain impact fees and the water rights are paid at subdivision plat recordation, and the city’s plat worksheet says payment is taken then, not before. That is normally the developer’s bill, so a buyer of a finished lot likely pays it indirectly through the lot price.

Water rights are required for every unit. Each home needs 0.30 acre-foot of drinking water rights and sources, bought from CUWCD through the city or dedicated by the developer, and 3.13 acre-feet of secondary water per irrigable acre, at $3,514 per acre-foot if bought from the city. Rights or shares can be deeded instead, subject to acceptance by the City Engineer and City Attorney. Lots inside the South Zone 2 water special improvement district pay a district fee that is credited against the irrigation impact fee; the worksheet says to get a payoff quote from LYRB before recording.

New utility customers also pay a $120 deposit, which the fee schedule applies to the account after 12 months without a late payment.

What could change in Saratoga Springs

• A draft August 2026 storm drain impact fee analysis calculates $2,814 per gross acre, up from $2,585. It had not been adopted when we checked.
• The Timpanogos district, which raised its fee to $5,793 in December 2025, held a public hearing on September 17, 2026 on revising its impact fee enactment. The notice did not state a new amount.
• The CUWCD water cost per acre-foot resets each July 1, so the $5,482.20 per home may already differ for FY 2026-2027.
• The city sewer impact fee rose to $1,489.55 under the analysis passed December 2, 2025; an older city worksheet showed $1,217.18.

Common questions about Saratoga Springs fees

More on Saratoga Springs and nearby cities

Lehi tap fees · Salt Lake City tap fees · tap fees by city · tap fee vs impact fee · sewer tap fee · utility connection cost calculator

Official documents behind the Saratoga Springs figures

• Impact Fees and Water Costs for Residential Development (FY 2025-2026, updated March 2, 2026), City of Saratoga Springs. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Consolidated Fee Schedule, City of Saratoga Springs. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Residential Impact and Water Fees at Plat Recordation worksheet, City of Saratoga Springs Engineering. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Drinking Water Impact Fee Analysis (January 2025), City of Saratoga Springs. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Pressurized Irrigation Impact Fee Analysis (February 2025), City of Saratoga Springs. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Sewer Impact Fee Analysis (October 2025, passed December 2, 2025), City of Saratoga Springs. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Storm Drain Impact Fee Analysis (July 2021, amended 2023) and Draft 2026 Storm Drain Impact Fee Analysis, City of Saratoga Springs. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Notice of Public Hearing, September 17, 2026, Timpanogos Sanitary Sewer District (Utah Public Notice Website). Checked Sep 25, 2026.