10/01/2026
Last week I shared a post showing the three year trend on Spring Hill building permits. 2025 was a 13 year low in permit numbers. 2026 is trending even lower, we’ll be down close to 60% from the 2024 number.
It should be self-obvious to everyone that a drop in building permits means an equal drop in impact fees and adequate facility taxes. New development only pays development related fees and taxes when new construction is actually occurring.
Impact fees and adequate facility taxes are primary revenue sources available to the city for infrastructure projects, namely road construction, public buildings and recreation facilities.
A multiple year drop to impact fees and adequate facility taxes leaves only three choices 1) delay infrastructure projects, 2) raise other revenues (and the only one available is property taxes), or 3) get creative.
BOMA went with number 3.
In January, BOMA authorized the creation of a new city department, an in house construction team (Alderman Fuqua helped spearhead and campion the effort). Some personnel were moved into new roles, earth moving equipment was purchased, a few new positions were created with the FY27 budget, and a list of projects was put together. Projects spanned road work, utility work, storm water improvements, site prep for city facilities, and some interior renovations. The plan was simple, by moving the work to an internal team we could eliminate some costs and keep some projects moving that would otherwise stall.
The first two projects are now largely complete, and you should be really happy with the results.
The team was set loose to add turning lanes and make traffic flow improvements to Mahlon Moore Rd and Battle Creek Way. Had the city followed the traditional bid process, we’d likely be starting construction right about now, instead the project is largely complete. Financially the project has also been a huge win. The city budgeted just over $1.4M for the work and spent under $400k. A million dollar plus savings for taxpayers.
Prior to the police headquarters opening in 2025, some PD functions were housed in the basement at city hall. The new headquarters gave the city an opportunity to renovate the space and make better use of it to meet citizen and city needs. $1M was set aside to renovate the 40 year old space. The project is now complete with about $650K in unspent funds.
Both projects delivered significantly under budget and earlier than expected is going to allow the construction team to complete more projects than otherwise possible.
An in house construction team is not a solution to every infrastructure need. There certainly are projects that are too large and too complex for the city to even consider completing ourselves. We’ll continue to be opportunistic with the construction team, tackling projects were appropriate and deliver time and cost savings every chance we get.