For the fiscal year that began July 1, 2026, Thompson's Station kept its town property tax rate at $0.1030 per $100 of assessed value. That is essentially the rate homeowners were already paying. The same ordinance says the town's certified rate, the rate Tennessee calculates to bring in roughly the same revenue after a reappraisal, was $0.0628. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen chose to exceed it.
So the rate stayed put and the town's collections went up. Both are true, and they explain how this town pays its bills. Thompson's Station keeps its homeowner levy among the lowest in Williamson County by leaning on sales tax. Sagefield, Simon Property Group's planned outdoor retail and entertainment project on Lewisburg Pike, is the town's plan for keeping it that way. For anyone pricing a home here, the town rate is a small number. The bigger question is whether the model behind it holds up.
The rate that held still
Alderman Whitmer described what happened at the June 9 budget meeting. The reappraisal "resulted in an increase in our property taxes paid to Thompson Station, a significant increase." He also said Williamson County "did not fully adjust the rate down where it should have been to be tax neutral." The County Commission set its FY2026-27 rate at $1.30 per $100, and the Williamson Herald covered that budget as having no tax increase. The Tennessee Comptroller explains why both can be accurate. After a reappraisal, an individual bill depends on how your property's value moved compared with the jurisdiction as a whole.
For a buyer, the practical point is simple. A seller's tax bill from before the reappraisal is a poor guide to what you will pay. Work from the current rates and the current appraisal.
The arithmetic also shows how little of the bill belongs to the town. Tennessee assesses residential property at 25 percent of appraised value. Take a home appraised at $400,000:
| Line on the bill | FY2026-27 rate per $100 assessed | On $100,000 assessed |
|---|---|---|
| Town of Thompson's Station | $0.1030 | $103 |
| Williamson County | $1.30 | $1,300 |
| Combined | $1.403 | $1,403 |
The town's share is about 7 percent of the combined amount. If the town had adopted the certified rate, that home's town line would have been about $63 instead of $103. Neighboring towns' rates show how much the town line can differ:
| Municipality | FY2026-27 town rate per $100 assessed |
|---|---|
| Thompson's Station | $0.1030 |
| Brentwood | $0.19 |
| Franklin | $0.296, as proposed in May 2026 |
| Nolensville | $0.34, as proposed at first reading in May 2026 |
| Spring Hill | $0.739 |
| Fairview | $0.8404 |
On the same $100,000 of assessed value, Spring Hill's town rate works out to $739, compared with $103 in Thompson's Station. The gap is real. Keeping it depends on revenue that does not come from homeowners.
About five dollars of sales tax for every dollar of property tax
The adopted FY2026-27 General Fund budget expects $4,638,005 from sales tax and $876,462 from property tax. Building and impact fees add another $2,283,900. Those fees only come in while new homes are being built, and Finance Director Banks told the board the town's "strategic shift is moving away from development fee reliance towards more commercial revenue and expanded commercial tax base."
The same meeting showed how firmly the board holds to that approach. Alderman King moved to add to the rate for a restricted future police fund. Alderman White seconded, and the motion failed 2-3. Vice Chair Alexander, who voted no, explained why:
"I would rather fund services through economic activity and visitor spending and what I call a consumption tax rather than place more burden on homeowners."
Alexander named Sagefield as the commercial growth expected to carry that load. Mayor Stover said a town survey found that most respondents, roughly 75 percent as he recalled it, listed costs being passed on to homeowners as their main concern. Alderman White pointed out the trade-off and called sales tax "a regressive tax." The budget then passed 5-0.
Who pays for Lewisburg Pike
Sagefield is planned for about 100 acres at 1733 Lewisburg Pike. The land has been zoned commercial since 2008. The plan calls for 16 buildings with about 496,366 square feet of retail, entertainment and restaurant space, and town staff describe it as the largest development in Thompson's Station history. The Nashville Business Journal reported on Oct. 2 that AJ Capital Partners has left the project. Simon is now developing it alone, with a tentative grand opening in 2028.
The road work is the part that affects nearby buyers most. A Sept. 24 staff report notes that Lewisburg Pike is not in TDOT's 10-year plan, so no state money is available for a corridor that needs work now. The proposed Intergovernmental Financial Assistance agreement fills that gap. Its key terms:
- Simon arranges the financing and does the work on $42 million of off-site improvements. The town and the ED&IA do neither.
- The work includes widening Lewisburg Pike to a four-lane state highway and adding capacity on the I-840 westbound off-ramp.
- Every improvement must be installed and handed over to the town and the State of Tennessee before Sagefield can open.
- Simon is repaid only from 50 percent of the town's local option sales tax generated at the development, for no more than 348 months, which is 29 years.
- State and county sales tax, including the share for Williamson County Schools, is not affected. Staff say the town's general fund and property taxes are not tapped.
Staff estimate that the corridor gets these improvements "at least a decade" before it otherwise would. The trade-off sits in the repayment terms. During the repayment period, the town keeps only half of its share of Sagefield's sales tax. If the center performs well, the debt is paid off sooner and the town gets the full amount. If it underperforms, the repayment period runs longer. Either way, the consumption-tax model Alexander described will be funded more slowly at first than the size of the project suggests.
The vote record runs closer than the renderings
The Planning Commission approved the site plan 5-2 on June 23. Commissioners Sarah Alexander and Tom Stephenson voted no. Stephenson raised southbound backups and the four new signals. Sarah Alexander asked whether tenant build-out could overlap the road work. Vice Chair Sean Cagle asked about the I-65 pinch point, and the traffic consultant said the physical improvements end before reaching it. Residents including Nick Falletta, Dave Hall and Jane Sadler spoke about scale, traffic, noise, lighting and sewer strain.
At an Aug. 27 ED&IA meeting, board members asked how sales tax collections and payments would be audited. Resident Allison Anderson objected to half the revenue going back to Simon. The ED&IA adopted the IFA on Sept. 24. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen still has to approve it, along with the Sagefield development agreement, on Oct. 13. The same agenda includes a 6 p.m. public hearing at Town Hall, 1110 Fountain View Boulevard, on the Town Center Depot District, a proposed central business improvement district. It covers 76 parcels and targets about $6 million in roadway, streetscape and wastewater work. The town has said it does not currently expect to assess property owners.
Reading a listing along the corridor
The May 2026 traffic study puts the four-lane widening between a point about 500 feet north of I-840 and Critz Lane. It also flags bridge work at Kennedy Creek, with design details still unresolved. According to the Planning Commission record, the widened road would have a 10-foot multi-use path on one side and a 6-foot sidewalk on the other. South of Critz Lane, the plan adds signals at Bethesda Road and Thompson's Station Road East and coordinates the signal at Harpeth-Peytonsville Road and Nita Drive. That stretch is not part of the widening.
If you are weighing a home off this corridor, the timing determines what you live with first:
- Confirm the BOMA outcome on Oct. 13 before assuming any of this is settled.
- Find where the home's entrance meets Lewisburg Pike. The studied intersections include Tom Anderson Road, Critz Lane, Harpeth School Road, Serina's Way, Savannah Springs Drive, Bethesda Road and Blackberry Estates Drive.
- Count backward from a tentative 2028 holiday-season opening. Because the road must be finished first, about two years of construction come before the improved road.
- Run the tax math on the current appraisal and the FY2026-27 rates, not on the seller's last bill.
Does the Sagefield agreement raise town property taxes?
According to the staff report, repayment comes only from new local option sales tax generated at the site. Nothing is drawn from the general fund or property taxes.
Who maintains the widened road afterward?
The State of Tennessee stays responsible for maintaining Lewisburg Pike. The town handles local roads and traffic signals.
Has a construction start date been published?
No exact date has been published, but there is an expected month. At the June 23 Planning Commission meeting, Patrick Mikusky of Simon Property Group said the project should start in October, once approvals are in place. He also laid out the sequence after that: restaurant tenants would move into building shells around January 2028, retail tenants would begin their build-outs in summer 2028, and the opening would come in the 2028 holiday season with the roadway fully widened. The site stays behind construction fencing until then. As of Oct. 5, BOMA's approval of the IFA and development agreement is still on the Oct. 13 agenda.
If you are comparing homes near Lewisburg Pike and want to know what the bill and the road will actually look like during your first years in the house, Susan Gregory and our team can go through the current rates, the corridor timeline and the builder pipeline with you, street by street. Request a Consultation, and we will build those numbers around the property you have in mind.
