Construction fees in Tennessee
No general act. Authority is granted piece by piece. Some jurisdictions or some fee types are authorized by separate legislation. What applies to the next county over may not apply to you.
Tenn. Code Ann. (County Powers Relief Act, 2006); home rule powers for mayor-aldermanic cities
Your fee stack in Tennessee
Answer four things and get the list of every body that can bill this project, what each one is allowed to charge for, and the rights your state's law gives you before you pay.
What Tennessee says about your project
Tennessee has no general enabling act, yet dozens of counties and cities charge impact fees or adequate facilities taxes under home rule authority or older private acts.
Cities with mayor-aldermanic charters can impose impact fees without special legislation.
The County Powers Relief Act allows growth counties a school facilities tax of up to $1 per square foot on residential development, but bars new private acts and requires a county to repeal any other impact fee or facilities tax first.
State law requires the amount of any impact fee or adequate facilities tax paid to be disclosed to the buyer at the first sale of a residential property. Ask for that disclosure.
What the fees may pay for
1 of 10 facility categories are eligible here. A charge for anything not on this list is resting on some other authority, and that is a fair question to ask.
| Facility type | Eligible for impact fees |
|---|---|
| Roads and transportation | Not listed |
| Water facilities | Not listed |
| Wastewater and sewer | Not listed |
| Stormwater and drainage | Not listed |
| Parks and recreation | Not listed |
| Fire | Not listed |
| Police | Not listed |
| Libraries | Not listed |
| Solid waste | Not listed |
| Schools | Yes |
What to do next in Tennessee
- Confirm whether your parcel is in a city or unincorporated, then pull the taxing district list from the assessor's record. Why that list is the real fee list.
- Request the current adopted fee schedule and a written fee estimate for the address. The six-step sequence.
- Call each utility separately. Tap fees usually sit outside the act, and are often the largest line.
- Pay under protest if you intend to dispute anything at all. What that preserves.