Sewer Service Charges

On January 27, 2025, the District’s Board of Directors held a public hearing and adopted Ordinance 31.41, which established sewer service charges for Fiscal Years 2026 through 2030. Prior to the public hearing, the District held an informational community meeting on January 14, 2025 and mailed a notice of the public hearing and informational brochure to all parcel owners in the service area.

Annual sewer service charges are collected on the Alameda County property tax roll. The charges appear on the tax statement as a single line item and are listed as “Union Sewer Svc.” Sewer service charges are not a property tax and are not related to the assessed value of a property. They represent a charge for a service provided. The District includes the annual charges on property tax statements to save the administrative cost of generating and mailing separate invoices. The table below depicts last year’s rates and the new rates for FY 2026. If you have any questions, call the District at (510) 477-7500 or email: rates@unionsanitary.ca.gov.

Additional information:

The District recognizes that rate increases are a cause for worry for customers on fixed incomes. The manner in which agencies such as USD set rates is highly regulated by voter-approved Proposition 218 as well as numerous State laws. These regulations dictate that all customers must pay their proportional share of the cost to provide service, which is determined by the most recent cost of service analysis. Providing discounts to one segment of the customer base is currently not allowed as one customer group would be subsidizing another. Given these legal constraints, USD is unable to charge some customers more than their equitable share determined by the analysis in order to provide lower rates for others. The District’s Board of Directors has made it a top priority for staff to actively search for funding opportunities that would enable the District to provide a ratepayer assistance program.

Please click on the “USD Seeking Funding for Ratepayer Assistance” link below for more information.

PDFs of the notification mailer, the Cost of Service Analysis upon which the proposed rates are based, a detailed fact sheet, answers to frequently asked questions, and information regarding USD’s procedural guidelines for the fee process may be found at the links below, as well as links to PDFs of the current adopted rates through June 2030 and Ordinance 31.41.

• • • Notification Mailer – November 2024
    • Cost of Service Analysis
    • USD FY 26 – 30 Fact Sheet
    • USD Frequently Asked Questions
    • Procedural Guidelines
    • USD Seeking Funding for Ratepayer Assistance
    • Table of Adopted Rates FY 21 – 25
    • Ordinance 31.40  FY 21 – 25
      An ordinance providing for the establishment of sewer service charges for Fiscal Years 2021 through 2025.  Effective date July 1, 2020.
      
    • Table of Adopted Rates FY 26 – 30
    • Ordinance 31.41 FY 26 – 30
      An ordinance providing for the establishment of sewer service charges for Fiscal Years 2026 through 2030. Effective date July 1, 2025.