Who should get to decide how to pay for the city's growth? Impact fee debate

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — With prices for everything increasing these days, cities and counties all over are looking for ways to pay for city services, especially as more people move in.

So who should get to decide how to pay for the city's growth?

That's a question Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr has a lot of opinions about.

"I believe it's unethical for a senior citizen's property tax to go up to pay for growth in another part of the county where they will receive literally no benefit," Carr said.

That's why in addition to property taxes that everyone pays, Rutherford County also collects what are called impact fees — money paid by new home builders to help pay for building new schools and school repairs, in the area where the homes are being built.

In 2006, the state legislature allowed cities and counties to join a state plan to regulate impact fees. But Rutherford County chose to stick with its own local plan — a $1500 flat fee for every new home constructed.

The state plan was different, regulating impact fees based on the size of the home, rather than a flat fee.

But when the physical size of new homes in Rutherford County starting getting bigger, beyond 1500 square feet, Carr says it began making more sense for Rutherford County to switch to the state plan, offering $1 per square foot, even though surrounding counties and cities still stuck with their own plan.

"The state plan has proven to be horribly inadequate in paying for growth," Carr said.

Years later, as a result of all of this, Carr says surrounding counties like Williamson bring in far more money through impact fees that benefit their schools than in Rutherford County, even though Rutherford County has more students, something Carr says he wants State Lawmakers to fix.

"Who should have the authority to make sure growth continues to pay for itself, should it be the state or should it be the local government?" Carr said.