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Building codes department reports higher permit volume and over $5 million in school facilities tax for fiscal year
Summary
Building Codes Director Tanya Bell reported 519 building permits issued in July (107 primary dwellings), 1,763 inspections and that the fiscal year 2024-25 closed with just over $5 million in school facilities tax receipts; she described workflow controls that prevent certificates of occupancy until the tax is paid.
Tanya Bell, director of the Building Codes Department, told the committee the department issued 519 building permits in July, of which 107 were primary dwelling permits. Staff completed 1,763 inspections that month and logged roughly 10,000 miles of inspection travel. Bell also briefed the committee on the county's school facilities tax (SFT) collection.
Bell said the department recorded school facilities tax receipts for July and closed fiscal year 2024-25 with "a little better than $5,000,000" in SFT revenue. She explained that the county's permitting workflow prevents issuance of a certificate of occupancy (CO) until the SFT is paid. The department also coordinates checkpoints with municipal partners (Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne) so the CO cannot be issued by those cities until SFT payment is confirmed.
Bell described the long-term decline in development-tax lots since the county switched to the school facilities tax in October 2021, noting that development-tax lot permits dropped from hundreds in earlier years to single digits in most months of the last fiscal year. The director said the change in tax structure is now beginning to show in permit issuance statistics.
Committee members did not object to the report and approved it by motion.
