Sewer Service Charges

Making sense of your bill

An annual Sewer Service Charge (SSC) is placed on your Santa Barbara County property tax statement. The charge appears on the tax statement as a line item listed as CARP SAN DIST SVC CHG. The SSC is not a property tax and is not related to the assessed value of your property. It represents a charge for a service provided, similar to your phone, gas or electric bill. It is included on your property tax statement to save the administrative cost of generating and mailing our own invoices.

All residential customers pay a flat annual charge for sewer service.  Customers in low-pressure sewer service areas pay an annual surcharge to cover proportionally higher costs.  Non-residential customers are charged a variable rate based on the average volume and strength of wastewater discharged annually.

Annual Sewer Service Charges

Residential

Per dwelling unit. Single family houses, condominiums, mobile homes, apartments and other residential dwelling units

$800.70

Low Pressure Surcharge

Lower pressure sewer system is owned and maintained by District staff and has been installed with an easement on each private parcel.

$273.27

Non-Residential

Per thousand gallons of water per year*. Strength classes (combined BOD and TSS)

  • Low

    less than 380 mg/L

    12.36
  • Medium Low

    381 to 500 mg/L

    13.39
  • Medium

    501 to 710 mg/L

    13.62
  • Medium High

    711 to 1100 mg/L

    15.29
  • High

    1101 to 1700 mg/L

    19.32
  • Very High

    over 1700 mg/L

    individually calculated
  • Minimum Non-Residential SSC

    800.70