Impact fee
A one-time charge on new development to pay for its share of capital facilities, calculated from a nexus study.
The city or county, under a state enabling act or home rule power
The name varies by state. Oregon says system development charge, Arizona says development fee, Tennessee says adequate facilities tax. Same animal.
Thirty statutory citations appear in the national compilation of state enabling acts, though the author counts twenty-nine states, because Maryland's provision reaches only code home rule counties. Texas passed the first general act in 1987 and Oklahoma the most recent in 2011. Nothing new has been enacted since.
Every act limits fees to a proportionate share of the burden new development actually creates, using one of a few standard phrases: proportionate share, reasonable relationship, reasonably attributable, necessitated by and attributable to.
The trend since the mid-2000s has run toward restriction rather than expansion. Wisconsin stripped counties of the power in 2006, Arizona rewrote its act in 2011 to delete several facility categories, and Florida has capped how fast fees may rise since 2021.