Front Foot Benefit Charge

A front foot benefit assessment is “generally” levied on all properties abutted and/or served by WSSC water and/or sewer mains. The word “generally” is used in the definition because there are several reasons that a property abutted or served by WSSC water and/or sewer may be exempted or suspended from FFBC. Listed are the more common reasons for FFBC exemptions:

• Property is owned by the state, county or a municipality;
• Property is owned and used for public purposes by a volunteer fire department;
• The water and sewer mains were constructed by a private developer;
• Property is too small for residential or commercial improvements;
• Property is designed as homeowners’ association common ground area.

Front foot benefit charges are generally assessed the year following WSSC water and/or sewer main construction completion. The assessment year beings January 1 and ends December 31. Although, not legally considered a “tax”, the assessment does appear on your annual tax bill. The assessment remains on the tax bill for the life of the bond used by WSSC to finance the construction of the water and sewer lines. The annual amount is constant and the assessment ends when the bond is retired (currently 30 years), unless changes in the property’s use or classification or additional lines have been constructed which abut the property. 

The cost of constructing water and sewer mains is determined annually. A uniform charge per foot (base rate), one for water and one for sewer, is calculated to recover all costs, including financing expenses. The base rate is used for properties classified as residential, small acreage and agricultural. Business rates are determined by multiplying the base rate times a factor (currently 1.33) which distributes costs appropriately to those classes. WSSC Water publishes the rates, conducts a Public Hearing and approves the schedule of front foot benefit charges for all new construction that has occurred the preceding year.

The water and/or sewer rates are multiplied by your property’s “assessable front footage”.

It depends on your property’s classification. If, like many customers, your property is classified as subdivision residential, your assessable front footage is determined by its shape. If your lot is rectangular or nearly so, its front footage is its “street frontage”, the length of your property’s boundary that faces or borders your street. If your subdivision property is irregularly shaped, its assessable front footage usually equals the average street frontage of regularly shaped properties in your neighborhood.

How much you will pay depends on your property’s assessable front footage and the year’s assessment rate. 

If your property is classified as subdivision residential or small acreage, you will not pay any assessment until you connect to WSSC’s system. After connection you will pay at the assessment rate(s) and terms in effect when WSSC built the line(s), not when you connected.

**this statement may need to be tweaked since WSSC Water rarely finances and constructs the water and sewer mains anymore**

Simply give our Property Assessments staff a call at (301) 206-8032 any weekday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The staff should be able to satisfactorily handle your questions. If not and you are calling in response to a notice you have received on your actual new assessment, you can appeal the new assessment. A WSSC Water Commissioner or designee will provide you with an informal hearing and then a written decision on your concern. If you remain dissatisfied,  you can request a formal hearing with WSSC Water’s full Commission. You can be represented by an attorney at the informal or formal hearing should you desire. 

Unlike taxes, you can pay off or redeem charges early to avoid paying annual interest charges. Redemptions are calculated using present value (dollar worth factor) tables, for interest rate associated with your FFBC and the number of years remaining on your assessment. If you are interested in redeeming your FFBC assessment, please contact the Property Assessments Office and we will provide you with a Disclosure Notice which will include a “Pay in Full Amount” for your property. The “pay in full amount” must be paid by May 31 of any given year, to be removed from the year’s tax bill. 

Here’s what Federal law states: “Front foot benefit charges assessed by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission against property in jurisdictions adjacent to the District of Columbia for water main and sewer improvements are assessed against local benefits of a kind tending to increase the value of the property assessed and are not deductible as taxes….” Rev. Rul.75-455,1975-2 CB 68. “The portion of a front foot benefit charge assessed against property benefited by construction of a water system, and added to the tax payer’s real property tax bill that is properly allocated to interest and maintenance charges is deductible as a tax …. No portion of a flat per unit charge or a two-part charge consisting of a metered charge and a uniform charge for maintenance and interest that a sewer or water authority imposes on all its customers is deductible….” Rev. Rul. 79-201, 1979-1 CB97. Check with your tax preparer to be sure you can deduct any portion of your FFBC.