On November 23, 2010 the City Council of Round Rock adopted ordinances establishing a Drainage Utility and establishing a schedule of charges associated with the utility. Customers will begin to see these charges in their March utility bill.
Numerous articles have appeared in the Austin American Statesman, Round Rock Leader, Community Impact Newsletter and NewsFlash, the City's utility bill companion newsletter, to inform our citizens and businesses about this new drainage utility charge.
Billing Calculations
The drainage utility fee considers a property’s impervious area which is the total area covered by materials such as asphalt, concrete, brick, stone and compacted surfaces which reduce infiltration of precipitation. The amount of impervious area on a property directly impacts how much storm water runs off the property and enters the City’s drainage system. The following two properties are similar in size; however the one to the left has considerably more impervious area, thus a higher drainage utility fee.
Type | Rate | Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) |
| Residential | $2.75 per dwelling unit | City Avg. 2,900 sq. ft. |
| Non-Residential | 95 cents per 1000 sq. ft. | |
The drainage utility fees will be billed to all properties located within the City limits. Citizens or property owners that do not have any other utility services with the City will recive a drainage only bill. Residential customers will be billed $2.75 per month. Non-Residential, commercial, industrial and multi-family properties will be billed at the $0.95 cents per 1,000 square feet of imprevious area.
Financial Management Policy
More than 60 cities in Texas have established a Drainage Utility to ensure consistent funding for regulatory compliance, environmental preservation and – most importantly – protection of life and property from flood damage.
A Drainage Utility meets the community’s financial objectives in two important ways. First, it aligns with our citizen’s preference for user fee-based program funding, where service costs are paid for by those who use and benefit the most. Second, it aligns with the City’s adopted financial policy which has a primary objective to reduce general fund reliance on volatile sales tax revenue to fund basic services.
Revenue from the Drainage Utility will provide stable funding for operations and maintenance of existing drainage infrastructure as well as help offset program costs associated with state and federal regulation compliance.
