Every Davie home has a Davie address, but the water and sewer bill at many of them comes from a different city. Most of western Davie is served by the City of Sunrise, which adds a 25% surcharge for customers outside its own city limits. Even so, at typical household use the monthly bill for those homes comes in below what the Town of Davie's own utility customers pay.
This is a carrying cost the listing price won't show you. Two homes at similar prices on either side of University Drive can come with different utility providers, rate formulas, and rate increases ahead. If you're comparing parts of Davie in late 2026, the seller's utility bill tells you something worth checking before you make an offer.
One town, six utilities
A 2019 Town of Davie FAQ lists six water and sewer providers for Davie residents: Broward County, the City of Fort Lauderdale, the City of Hollywood, the City of Sunrise, Ferncrest Utilities, and the Town of Davie itself. A 2017 Town planning document says Davie's own utility serves only about one-third of the Town's population.
That same document gives the outline of the Town's service area. It runs roughly from State Road 84 south to Stirling Road, and from State Road 7, Ferncrest, Hacienda Village and the Seminole reservation west to University Drive. That area holds Downtown Davie, the South Florida Education Center and Town Hall. The Town also serves a pocket south of Stirling, bounded by Davie Road Extension and University Drive.
West of University it's a different story. The City of Sunrise says it provides water and sewer to the part of Davie west of University Drive, north of Sheridan and south of State Road 84. The Town's 2017 description agrees but notes an exception around Hiatus Road.
The split goes back decades. Sunrise began serving unincorporated land in the 1970s, and that land was later annexed into Davie. Sunrise also bought three private utilities whose customers now live in Davie:
- Southwest Broward Utilities, which served Ivanhoe and Imagination Farms
- Pine Island Utilities Corporation, which served areas east of Pine Island Road
- West Broward Utilities, which served areas west of Pine Island Road
The Town has looked at buying the Sunrise system several times. In 2006 it passed a resolution ending those efforts, because the purchase would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars and pushed rates up for decades. The service map has hardly changed since, so the line you buy on still decides your provider.
The surcharge that doesn't produce the bigger bill
Florida law lets a city charge water and sewer customers outside its limits a surcharge on top of its normal rates. Davie's FAQ says Sunrise applies 25% to its Davie customers. Sunrise's own October 2026 rate sheets show it plainly. The outside-city water base is $33.69 a month, against $26.95 inside Sunrise. The sewer base is $37.48, against $29.98.
The figures below use Sunrise's October 2026 outside-city schedule and the Town of Davie's FY2026 rate exhibit for a single-family home. They are our estimates of combined monthly water and sewer charges at three usage levels.
| Monthly use | Sunrise, outside-city rate, Oct. 2026 | Davie Utilities, FY2026 rate | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7,000 gallons | about $160.54 | about $173.89 | Davie about $13 higher |
| 20,000 gallons | about $333.73 | about $358.30 | Davie about $25 higher |
| 30,000 gallons | about $472.13 | about $477.30 | Davie about $5 higher |
In 2019, the Town used 7,000 gallons a month as its average household. At that level, the FAQ priced a Sunrise-served Davie home at $135.36 and a Davie Utilities home at $139.59. Seven years later the Town's customers are still paying more, and the gap is wider.
Three differences in how the bills are built explain the pattern:
- Base charges. Davie's water base is lower, $28.92 against Sunrise's $33.69, but its sewer base is much higher at $47.28 against $37.48.
- Sewer usage. Davie charges $8.51 per 1,000 gallons of sewer and caps billing at 15,000 gallons. Sunrise charges $6.64 and caps at 12,000.
- Water usage. Davie's first water block runs to 5,000 gallons at $4.78. Sunrise's first tier stops at 4,000 gallons at $5.27, and its higher tiers climb faster for big users. That's why the gap nearly closes at 30,000 gallons.
On a larger western Davie lot with heavy irrigation on the meter, the two bills land close together. For a typical household, the Sunrise side has been cheaper every month.
Why the Town's own water costs more
The higher cost on the Davie side is a matter of engineering and debt, not overcharging. In 2012 the Town opened a new water and wastewater plant built for future regulations. It disposes of treated wastewater through deep injection wells instead of an ocean outfall. Its water comes from the Floridan aquifer, which is deeper and more brackish than the Biscayne aquifer, so it needs more treatment before it reaches a faucet.
More spending is ahead. A Town Council agenda report says the utility's 2020 Interim Final Master Plan identified about $150 million in system improvements, which would require more rate increases. The same report confirms the Town explored selling its utility to the City of Sunrise, with final negotiations and best offers on June 27, 2024. At a workshop on August 7, 2024, the Council voted unanimously to keep the system.
Keeping the utility came with an automatic increase. Starting with bills on or after October 1, 2026, Davie's base rates and usage charges rise each year by the greater of two numbers: the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach consumer price index for the 12 months to April, or 5%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put that index at 3.8% for April 2026, so the formula calls for 5% this year. Applied to the FY2026 table, 5% takes the single-family water base to about $30.37 and the sewer base to about $49.64. Our 7,000-gallon example would rise to roughly $183 a month. Those are our calculations from the Town's formula, not a published FY2027 schedule.
Sunrise invests in its Davie territory too. The Town's FAQ lists $19.8 million in Sunrise projects since 2010, including water main replacements in Park City Estates and the Escape and Valencia communities, and work on Nova Drive and SW 121st Avenue. It also lists $33.8 million in upgrades to the Southwest treatment plants that serve Ivanhoe and Imagination Farms.
What Tallahassee changed this year, and what it left alone
In 2026 the Legislature passed HB 1451, signed on June 11 as Chapter 2026-135. It rewrote the statute behind outside-city water and sewer rates. Under the new text, a city that charges outside customers its inside rate may still add a surcharge:
"of not more than 25 percent of such rates, fees, and charges to consumers outside the boundaries."
The change hits the other way of setting rates. Under the prior text, a city could charge outside customers up to 50% more than inside customers. When most of the law takes effect on July 1, 2027, that cap drops to 25%. Older surcharges above that will be allowed only where bond covenants require them, and they must end by July 1, 2029. Sunrise's 25% is already at the new cap, so the law doesn't appear to force a cut for its Davie customers.
The law also adds a reporting rule that took effect July 1, 2026. By January 1, 2027, every city serving customers outside its limits must tell the Florida Public Service Commission how many such customers it has, how much revenue they bring in, how much more they pay, and how much utility revenue goes to non-utility city services. Sunrise's Davie customers will be counted in that first report. The commission must send a statewide summary to the Governor and legislative leaders by March 31, 2027.
For buyers, the 25% surcharge looks set to stay, and the Davie side's yearly 5% minimum increase is already in place.
Checking a Davie listing for its utility
The boundaries above come from Town documents written in 2017 and 2019, and the street names are approximate. Confirm each property on its own. Here's the order we'd follow during due diligence:
- Ask the seller for a recent water and sewer bill. The name on it tells you the provider and its rate schedule.
- If the bill comes from Sunrise, read it against the outside-city rate sheet. Sunrise's billing line is (954) 746-3232.
- If the bill comes from the Town of Davie, expect the yearly index increase every October 1 from 2026 onward.
- Look at the usage line, not just the total. A seller with a pool and heavy irrigation may show much higher monthly use than you plan to have.
- If the home is on septic, ask whether a sewer main runs along the property line. Connection rules and fees apply when sewer becomes available.
FAQ
Can a Davie homeowner move from Sunrise service to Davie Utilities?
Service follows recorded territory lines that date back to the 1970s and to Sunrise's purchase of the private systems. The Town ended its efforts to buy the Sunrise territory in 2006.
What does it cost to connect a new home to Davie Utilities?
The FY2026 exhibit lists one-time contribution charges of $3,050 for water and $2,920 for sewer per equivalent residential connection. New connections also carry capital financing recovery fees that accrue over six years and are paid when the building permit is issued.
What happens if sewer becomes available to a home on septic?
Both state law, at section 381.00655, and the connection ordinance posted by the Town set deadlines for connecting once sewer becomes available, and the two texts use different timelines. For a specific property, the utility and a real estate attorney can say which deadline applies.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rates, fees and connection rules can change, so confirm the figures for your own property with the utility and the right professional before you rely on them.
At Sklar Team, we check which utility serves a Davie home before we talk price, because the line a home sits on stays with every monthly bill after closing. If you're weighing homes on both sides of University Drive, or getting ready to sell one, we'll help you put the real carrying cost on paper. Request Your Free Home Valuation.