For years, county mayors have come to Tennessee’s Capitol asking for the right to enact a tax on development to cover cost influxes due to population growth, only to be rebuffed by lawmakers lobbied by powerful and well-funded business groups.
The fight over impact fees, or one-time costs paid by developers when building new housing or commercial projects and often based on project size, pits the Tennessee Association of Realtors and Home Builder Association of Tennessee against county mayors.
Joe Carr, a former state House Republican now serving his first term as mayor of Rutherford County, and Republican Maury County Mayor Sheila Butt spent the past two years lobbying for their local delegations to introduce bills for the authority to set an impact fee.
Both counties had risen in population, turning them from rural to suburban communities and prompting a need for increased public services like police and fire departments, sidewalks, and schools. They had recently raised property taxes but were searching for another way to generate government revenue.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga home sales decline this year but home prices remain strong)