Beaverton City Limits vs. Unincorporated Washington County Costs

Two new lines started showing up on some Beaverton utility bills in August. Tualatin Valley Water District put them on the sewer portion of the bill: a Street Maintenance Fee and a General Service Fee, charged by the City of Beaverton to City of Beaverton customers starting August 1, 2026. A household one street over, with the same water utility and the same "Beaverton" in its mailing address, may not have either line.

That gap affects how buyers should compare homes this fall. The new city fees got the headlines, and they're real. For most single-family homes they're also flat, predictable, and modest next to the costs tied to a home's assessed value. Those value-based costs are set by different taxing bodies on each side of the city limit, and both sides have a levy question coming.

The Line Is the City Limit, Not the ZIP Code

The Oregonian's July 8, 2026 report was specific: the new surcharges apply to people living within Beaverton city limits. A Beaverton mailing address covers a lot more ground than that.

Tualatin Valley Water District serves parts of urban unincorporated Washington County, including Aloha, Bethany, Cedar Hills, Cooper Mountain, Progress, Metzger and Rock Creek. It also serves parts of Beaverton, Hillsboro and Tigard. TVWD co-bills shared customers for water and sewer or surface water service. So a TVWD customer inside city limits gets the Beaverton fees, and a TVWD customer in unincorporated Cedar Hills does not. The water provider doesn't decide who pays. The jurisdiction does.

For a buyer, that means two listings with the same city name, a similar price and the same water company can come with different recurring costs. Look up the jurisdiction for each address, because the address line won't tell you.

A Flat Fee for a Budget That Runs on Property Taxes

The City Council approved both fees on July 7. The general services fee for a single-family home is $9.50 a month and rises 8% a year. The street maintenance fee is $5 a month at first, then $10 in its second year and $15 in its third, followed by what city officials called a "standard industry escalator." The Oregonian reported the street fee ranges from $3.61 to $5 a month for city residents.

For a single-family home on the $5 street tier, that works out to:

The year-three general services figure applies the 8% increase twice. It isn't a published city number.

The city charges a flat fee for a structural reason. Interim City Manager Elizabeth Coffey said Beaverton's property taxes grow about 3% to 3.8% a year while its expenses grow about 6% to 6.7%. According to a city presentation from September 8, 2026, the City of Beaverton gets 21 cents of a typical residential property tax dollar. The Beaverton School District gets 37 cents, Washington County 13, Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue 11, and Tualatin Hills Parks & Rec 9. The city's permanent rate is $4.618 per $1,000 of assessed value, and the city plans to levy the full rate for FY 2026-27. Since that rate can't grow faster than the tax base allows, a per-home fee is a way to bring in money that doesn't depend on assessed value.

The fees cost the same on a three-story townhome as on an estate on a large lot. For a buyer comparing price tiers inside the city, the fees add the same dollar amount to each monthly budget. On the lower-priced home they're a bigger share of the total cost.

Utility rates went up at the same time, and those changes took effect right away. Water rose about 9%. The city estimated a two-person household's typical bill would go from $52.53 to $57.43 a month. Sewer rose about 7% and stormwater about 5%, partly because of Clean Water Services increases. Residents who need help can get assistance with these and other utility fees up to three times a year through Community Action.

What an Unincorporated Beaverton Address Pays Instead

Living outside the city doesn't mean skipping these costs. The charges come from county service districts, most are tied to assessed value, and they appear on the property tax statement or a different bill.

• Urban Road Maintenance District: a proposed FY 2026-27 permanent rate of $0.2456 per $1,000 of assessed value, for properties inside the district.
• Enhanced Sheriff's Patrol District: a $0.6365 permanent rate plus a $0.83 local option levy per $1,000 of assessed value, listed in the county's FY 2026-27 budget filing.
• Clean Water Services: CWS bills urban unincorporated Washington County directly for local and regional sewer and stormwater service. Its FY 2026-27 rates took effect July 1, 2026, with a 6.4% increase for those customers, about $4.28 a month for the average home. The published average monthly bill is now $71.23.
• TVWD water: for a standard 5/8-inch residential meter, the current fixed charge is $31.38 a month. It rises to $32.32 on November 1, 2026, along with higher per-unit usage rates. TVWD describes the November step as about $3.11 a month for a typical single-family bill.

The two county district rates add up to $1.7121 per $1,000. Here's an example for a home assessed at $400,000. Outside the city, those two districts come to about $685 a year. Inside the city, the same home pays about $1,847 a year on the city's permanent rate, plus $174 in first-year fees. These aren't comparable totals. Each tax bill also includes other overlapping districts that this example leaves out, and the services behind each line are different. What the example does show is the structure. Outside city limits, these charges rise with assessed value. Inside, a growing share of new revenue comes from a flat amount per home.

The Cuts Still Being Decided This Month

The fees didn't close Beaverton's budget gap. The city's September 8 presentation lists $2.7 million in FY 2026-27 General Fund cuts as already done, alongside the two new fees. At that work session, staff recommended another $750,000 in low-impact cuts through a fall supplemental budget. They recommended holding off on deeper cuts until FY 2027/28 and talking about wider strategy at a November council retreat. The work session was for feedback only, and the staff memo said no formal action would be taken. The city recording set the supplemental budget work for October 6, so as of this writing it's still pending.

Staff also showed councilors two larger options of about $1.8 million each. One example package listed the Center for Mediation and Dialogue's $538,000 General Fund subsidy, down-payment help for two buyers, Bike Beaverton, the Volunteer Fair, and at least one of the Night Market, Tree Lighting or Celebration Parade. These were examples, not adopted cuts. They do show which city-run programs are on the table. Some of them, like the Night Market and the Celebration Parade, are part of what a city-limits address pays for.

"We are to the marrow now. We can't do that much more." City Council President John Dugger, as quoted by The Oregonian

A Levy Vote on Each Side of the Line

This is where the comparison stays unsettled. The city lists a local option levy as "tentatively May 2027" and shows it as a $5 million operating levy. The council hasn't set a rate. The last specific proposal, from February 2026, was 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for a public safety levy. The council delayed it after it polled poorly. At that February rate, the $400,000 example home would pay $160 a year. Use that only to get a sense of scale, since it isn't a current proposal.

Unincorporated homes have a timeline too. Washington County says it will start preparing in FY 2026-27 to renew or replace the Enhanced Sheriff's Patrol District levy for FY 2028-29 through 2033-34. That local option is the $0.83 per $1,000 in the example above.

So a buyer comparing a home in the city with one in Aloha or Cedar Mill isn't comparing a settled cost against an unknown one. Both carry a known cost today plus a ballot decision in the next few years. The city's fee schedule is the most predictable piece of either.

Checking a Specific Address Before You Write an Offer

1. Confirm the jurisdiction. The mailing address won't tell you. Check the property tax statement to see whether the City of Beaverton is one of the taxing districts.
2. Read the taxing districts on the statement. See whether the Urban Road Maintenance District and Enhanced Sheriff's Patrol District appear, and note the assessed value they're charged on.
3. Ask the seller for a recent utility bill. For a city home, look for the two fee lines on the sewer portion. For an unincorporated home, check who bills sewer and stormwater.
4. Plan for the scheduled increases. The city street fee doubles in year two and triples in year three, and TVWD's next rate step starts November 1, 2026.
5. Follow the two votes. That means the city's possible May 2027 levy and the county's sheriff patrol levy renewal for FY 2028-29.

If you're weighing a home inside Beaverton city limits against one with a Beaverton address in unincorporated Washington County, Kayla Jones can help you line up the tax statements, utility bills and district charges for each address before you make an offer. If you're selling, a home valuation request is a good starting point for showing buyers what your address actually costs to own.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.