If you're a "typical" Savannah household, this is how much more you could be paying in utility fees next year

Dec. 8, 2025 – Typical Savannah households are poised to pay about $92 more next year as a result of increased utility rates and the new stormwater fees, based on information provided by the proposed 2026 budget and city officials.

The added cost breaks down as $38.64 more per year for water and sewer, $24.36 more per year for sanitation, and $28.50 in stormwater charges in 2026, when stormwater billing is scheduled to begin in July. (These amounts were reviewed and confirmed by city officials on Dec. 8 prior to this story’s publication.)

Actual impacts will of course vary. Customers who use more or less water, live outside the city limits, have multiple trash containers, fall into a different stormwater tier, or qualify for any future credits or exemptions will see different totals.

Both the 2026 budget and stormwater ordinance are scheduled to go before the Savannah City Council for consideration on Thursday.

Check out the proposed 2026 budget and 5-year-capital plan>

Stormwater fee

The city is planning to implement a stormwater utility fee that charges property owners based on how much impervious surface they have (roofs, driveways and other hard surfaces that generate runoff). Under the fee structure in the 2026 budget, most single-family homes are expected to fall into Tier 2, which carries a proposed charge of $4.75 per month. Because the ordinance starts billing partway through the year, on July 1, a Tier 2 household would pay $28.50 in 2026 (six months of charges), and $57 per year once the fee is fully in place for all twelve months starting in 2027.

City officials say the stormwater fee is meant to give the drainage system the same kind of dedicated, recurring funding that already supports the water and sewer utilities. Currently, stormwater operations are funded largely through the general fund, competing with police, fire and other core services. The new fee would shift stormwater into its own enterprise fund and, according to the city manager’s budget intro, provide a “stable and equitable” source of revenue that can only be used for drainage operations, maintenance and capital projects.

City officials also say the fee is more equitable than relying on property or sales taxes, because it is based on each parcel’s contribution to runoff. Properties that shed more water into the system pay more under the proposal, regardless of tax exemptions or assessed value.

The Nov. 25 stormwater presentation to council highlighted an estimated $465 million in drainage capital needs, with only about $165 million currently funded. The new fee is seen as a way to close that gap.

Water and sewer

During the Nov. 25 budget workshop, staff told council that a “typical customer” in Savannah uses about 15 CCF of water per bi-monthly bill (1,500 cubic feet of water, or about 11,220 gallons). For that customer, the combined water and sewer bill is projected to increase by about $3.22 per month, about 5.71%, or $38.64 per year, according to Chief Financial Officer David Maxwell.

City officials say the rate hikes are being driven by a surge in long-term capital spending on the water and sewer system. The five-year capital plan for water and sewer totals roughly $477 million, compared to about $160 million in a typical five-year period, Maxwell said.

A major benchmark in the budget is the start of improvements to the Industrial and Domestic Water Treatment Plant, supported by a $146 million funding package from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. Planned investments also include a new sewer treatment plant in Georgetown and the expansion of the Travis Field treatment plant.

Most of the plan is expected to be financed through borrowing, supplemented by the increased water and sewer revenue and interest on restricted funds.

“I can guarantee you that $477 million didn’t just fall out of the sky or float up the Savannah River,” Maxwell said. “We’ve got to find that money somewhere.”

Sanitation

On the trash side of the bill, the 2026 budget raises the monthly residential sanitation rate from $40.77 to $42.80, a 5% increase, which adds $2.03 per month or $24.36 per year for standard service.

The rate covers curbside garbage collection, recycling, yard-waste pickup and bulk item service. At the budget retreat, staff described the increase as necessary to keep the sanitation fund financially sustainable in the face of rising costs. Sanitation operating costs have reportedly risen by an average of 10.77% per year, while rates have increased by only 2.19% per year, a shortage the city has partly covered with other revenues such as host-fee payments from private landfills in the city limits, which bring in about $1.4–$1.8 million annually.

The fund faces significant capital obligations, including landfill closure and post-closure costs – a liability of about $18.2 million at the end of 2024, according to Maxwell.

“So, there’s a lot of costs that goes into being a landfill operator and closing one of those landfills,” he said. “And up until the 2026 budget, we had no money set aside for that.

“And so, one of the things that we have done in this budget is to begin to set aside funds for that future liability, which we think will start closing it sometime in the next 12 to 24 months.”

How the $92 figure was calculated:

Typical customer Uses 15 CCF of water per two-month billing period,
Has standard residential sanitation service, and
Falls into Tier 2 for the new stormwater fee
would pay almost $92 more in the first year:
Water & sewer: +$38.64/year
Sanitation: +$24.36/year
Stormwater: +$28.50 in 2026 (half-year), rising to $57/year once the fee is fully phased in.

Track the Savannah City Council and other meetings at Meeting Agendas Archives – Savannah Agenda.

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