At the Thompson's Station Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting on October 13, Mayor Brian Stover took the board through how the town pays its bills. According to the meeting minutes, the town collected about $800,000 in property tax last year. It currently brings in about $3.2 million a year in commercial sales tax. "The town is running off commercial sales tax revenue and the grants that we apply for," he said.
That same night the board voted 4-0 to approve a $42 million financing agreement for Sagefield, the Simon development planned for Lewisburg Pike. Two weeks later, a Costco site plan on Columbia Pike went before the town's Planning Commission.
If you're comparing Thompson's Station with Franklin, Spring Hill or Nolensville, these stories explain each other. The low tax rate is real. The town pays for it with big regional retail, and new lanes on the town's worst roads are arriving as part of those retail deals.
The Town Line on Your Tax Bill Is Small
Thompson's Station's property tax rate is $0.103 per $100 of assessed value. In his first annual address, in July 2025, the mayor called it "the lowest property tax rate in Williamson County," as Williamson Scene reported. He gave the same 0.103 figure at the October 2026 meeting.
The math shows how little of the bill that is. In Tennessee, residential property is assessed at 25% of appraised value, so a home appraised at $800,000 has an assessed value of $200,000. Here is the city or town portion of that bill at each rate, next to the countywide rate.
| Taxing body | Rate per $100 assessed | On an $800,000 appraisal |
|---|---|---|
| Thompson's Station | $0.103 | $206 |
| Franklin, as listed on the city's site | $0.296 | $592 |
| Nolensville, as listed on the town's site | $0.34 | $680 |
| Spring Hill, kept for FY 2026-27 | $0.739 | $1,478 |
| Williamson County, adopted June 18, 2026 | $1.30 | $2,600 |
On that example home, the town line in Thompson's Station comes to about $386 a year less than Franklin's and about $1,272 less than Spring Hill's city line. The Williamson County line, which applies countywide, is $2,600 on its own. The low town rate is a real saving. It is also a small share of what an owner actually pays, and it's held down by a revenue model with its own costs.
The town notes that residents pay property taxes to the Williamson County Trustee, not to the town. These figures are general information, not tax or financial advice. Confirm your own bill with the Trustee or a tax professional before you rely on it.
Kroger Pays More Toward Town Services Than Homeowners Do
At the October 13 meeting, the mayor named the town's largest sales tax generators. Kroger is first, followed by FirstBank Amphitheater and the businesses at Tollgate. Grants cover a good share of the rest. The Sarah Benson Park repairs are funded by a state grant in which the state pays 80% and the town pays 20%. Wastewater runs as a separate enterprise fund paid for by ratepayers, not property taxes.
The same discussion covered the town's next big expense. Studies by MTAS put a seven-person police department at about $1.3 million a year, which is more than the town's entire annual property tax collection. The mayor also said the town has committed $15 million of its own money toward widening Highway 31.
Brentwood's FY 2027 budget lists local option sales tax as its largest source of general fund revenue, projected at $27.5 million. The difference in Thompson's Station is that its property tax produces so little that commercial growth decides almost everything the town can afford.
The mayor also warned that a state cap on property tax rates, which some legislators have pushed for, "would kill any avenue we have to draw revenue." If you plan to stay a long time, that matters, because the town has little room to raise property taxes if sales tax falls short.
How Sagefield Turns Lewisburg Pike Into Four Lanes
Simon announced Sagefield on November 4, 2025. It's a 100-acre mixed-use development with boutique retail and dining, plus a luxury hotel, restaurants, a spa and a members' club from Sam Fox's Author & Edit Hospitality. WKRN placed the site at 1733 Lewisburg Pike, just south of I-840 and across I-65 from FirstBank Amphitheater. At a community presentation in November 2025, the developers gave a late-2026 groundbreaking and a fall-2028 opening as targets, the Williamson Herald reported.
Resolution 2026-027, approved October 13, sets out how the deal works:
- Simon builds about $61 million in public improvements. The biggest item is widening Lewisburg Pike from two lanes to four with turn lanes. The list also includes utility relocations, a wastewater connection line, public safety space, plazas, walking paths and artwork.
- The town's assistance is capped at $42 million, about 70% of that cost, with interest capped at 8% and repayment limited to 29 years.
- Repayment comes only from half of the new local sales tax the project generates. The town keeps the other half.
- All improvements must be finished before Sagefield opens. Simon also plans to donate land for a future police building.
Assistant Town Administrator Steve Banks gave the board one projection that explains why the town agreed. The town's half of Sagefield's sales tax in the first year is projected at $2.9 million. The town's entire FY 2027 budget for local option sales tax is $3.1 million.
Vice Mayor Shaun Alexander laid out the town's other options from the dais:
"So, our alternative is to wait 10 years or longer, and every time there's a concert, we hear about it or we have to sit in the traffic on our way home."
He also said the Lewisburg Pike widening is not on TDOT's 10-year plan. Without Sagefield, the road would wait.
Costco Brings the Same Approach to Columbia Pike
According to Williamson Source, the proposed Costco is a 168,244-square-foot warehouse at 5001 Merchant Lane in the Hatcher Cotton Subdivision, on 24.64 acres off Columbia Pike. Plans include a 32-pump fuel station, 854 parking spaces, 415 trees and three Columbia Pike entrances. The middle entrance would get a traffic signal, pending TDOT review. A 10-foot greenway extension and trailhead would connect Columbia Pike to the town's dog park. Town staff recommended approval with 13 contingencies, including final traffic mitigation and a development agreement, in the staff report for the October 27 Planning Commission meeting.
Columbia Pike is where the state's timeline and the town's timeline differ. TDOT's project page shows US 31 widened to five lanes from Duplex Road/Beechcroft Road to Tollgate Boulevard, with right-of-way in FY2028 and FY2029 and construction in FY2033. The town has a first-reading ordinance, requested by TDOT for the widening design, that would lower the speed limit there from 45 to 40 mph, with a second reading expected in November. Meanwhile, a stretch of greenway between the dog park lot and the Highway 31 underpass is closed through November 16 for construction.
Why the Board Can't Simply Say No
Under Tennessee law, Vice Mayor Alexander told residents, zoning is an entitlement. A developer that meets the town's standards gets approved. He also pointed out that much of the old downtown has been zoned T-4 or T-5 since 2015, which allows townhomes, apartments, shops, restaurants and offices.
The town used to slow growth with sewer capacity, and that hasn't fully gone away. The town's wastewater page states that both of its systems are at capacity until the regional plant is upgraded. The upgrade project would raise permitted capacity from 470,000 to 1 million gallons per day. The vice mayor also said state legislators are moving to let developers buy sewer service from providers other than the town.
The historic core is on the same path. On October 13 the board created the Town Center Depot District, covering only town-owned parcels, with no special assessments and no zoning change. A design for a sewer line of roughly $6 million to $6.5 million is slated for the board's November agenda, and a special area plan with public engagement is expected in 2027. Alderman Bob Whitmer described the area as "an asset for the Town of Thompson's Station."
What to Check When You Compare Streets
The tax rate is the same for every street in Thompson's Station. What differs is how close a home sits to the commercial projects the town relies on, and when the roads around it get fixed.
- How close the home is to the Lewisburg Pike and I-840 interchange. Sagefield's road work has to be finished before any store opens, but construction comes first.
- Which Columbia Pike entrance you'd use. Costco's signalized entrance depends on TDOT review, and state construction on US 31 is scheduled for FY2033.
- Whether a new-construction home has wastewater service lined up. The town's systems are listed at capacity until the regional plant upgrade is done.
- What the zoning map shows nearby. Much of the old downtown is zoned T-4 or T-5, and the town's zoning map shows which uses those districts allow on land near a home you're considering.
- Your full bill, not just the town line. On the example home above, the countywide rate is about 12 times the town rate.
Mary Brown has spent more than three decades watching Williamson County towns grow along their highway corridors. Thompson's Station is now building on the same plan, and it's moving fast. If you're weighing a home near Lewisburg Pike or Columbia Pike, or you'd like to know how Sagefield and the Costco plans could affect what your own home is worth, Mary Brown can walk you through the comparable sales and the road timelines for your street. Request Your Home Valuation to get started.
