How the Stormwater Fee is Determined

The stormwater fee is based on two elements of a developed piece of property:

• The total square footage of impervious area on a property
  • Impervious area - surface that is covered and/or compressed so as to resist infiltration by water, such as roofs, driveways, sidewalks, or compacted gravel
• The type of development on the property
  • Residential - includes single-family and multi-family dwellings of various sizes and numbers of units. The Stormwater Utility has seven residential property types.
  • Non-residential - all property identified by the Property Appraiser's Office, zoned or and/or used for commercial, industrial, retail, governmental, or other uses not otherwise defined as residential.

The City of Jacksonville uses property record information obtained from the Property Appraiser's Office in conjunction with high-resolution digital aerial photography to determine the impervious area associated with each type of property.

Residential - The city took a sample from all around the city of each of the seven residential categories and applied Property Appraiser data to statistically determine the appropriate category and corresponding rate.

Non-residential - When possible, the city analyzed each property individually to confirm/verify impervious area. Otherwise, impervious areas are estimated based on the best data available (usually property records).

All fee rates, both residential and non-residential, are calculated based on the citywide average impervious area of a single-family detached dwelling. This unit of measurement is called an 'SFU,' or single-family unit.

The City of Jacksonville's average impervious area for a single family unit equals 3,100 square feet.

SFUs = Total impervious area ÷ 3,100

Then, multiply the number of SFUs by $5 to determine the monthly fee, and multiply that figure by 12 to determine the annual fee:

Annual Fee = (SFUs x $5) x 12