UNDERSTANDING YOUR UTILITY BILL

The current utility service fees are effective July 1, 2019

City of Florence residents receive a utility bill once a month for services provided for the previous month.

It is a common misconception that this is a “water bill”, but it is much more than just a bill for water.

The City of Florence is committed to providing residents and businesses with not only top quality water service, but also sewer, stormwater and street services.

Like anything else there are costs related to providing these services.  The City recovers the cost of these services by billing a service charge for each service provided in the form of a monthly bill.

The utility billing period covers an approximate 30 day period.  Bills are mailed between the 1st and 5th of each month.  Bills are due on the 15th of each month.

WATER BASE FEE & VARIABLE RATE: The water portion of your utility bill is made up of two parts:

• A base fee of $19.41 that is charged to everyone, regardless of water use
• Consumption charges that are calculated based on the amount of water you use

WASTE WATER FIXED COST: A Waste Water fee of $54.66 is billed on your monthly invoice.  Waste Water systems are capital intensive and are built and operated to serve the entire community.  Whether those systems are used, or not, they do have significant fixed costs.  These costs are allocated to all homes, businesses and other users to be paid monthly.

STORM WATER FIXED COST: A storm water fee, ranging from $5.68 - $8.73 depending on the square footage of the lot, is billed on your monthly invoice. This fee pays for the operations and maintenance costs of the storm water program such as street sweeping, storm drain cleaning and repair, improved water quality and public education and outreach just to name a few.

STREET MAINTENANCE FIXED COST:  A street maintenance fee of $6.60 is billed on your monthly invoice. The City of Florence intends to protect the safety and welfare of the city’s local inhabitants by properly maintaining local streets.  These concerns are addressed by charging the monthly fee to the city’s occupants so that users of the road system share the costs of the street construction and maintenance.  By having funds to maintain streets, the City of Florence is better able to provide safe roads on which people may travel.