Why it's required

Miami-Dade County collects impact fees for Road, Fire and Emergency Services, Police Services, Parks and Educational Facilities. These fees are paid as pre-development costs to help fund the additional expenses required for services for new development. This helps in keeping taxes for these services to a minimum for current taxpayers.

Road and School impact fees are paid countywide to Miami-Dade County. 

Fire impact fees are paid to the County for all municipalities (except Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Coral Gables and Key Biscayne because they have their own fire departments). 

Almost all of the municipalities have their own parks and police departments, so Park and Police impact fees are usually paid to the cities directly. However, in the case where Miami-Dade County contracts with municipalities to collect impact fees, as a service, for parks or police services, those fees are paid to Miami-Dade County. Park and Police impact fees are currently being collected by the County for Palmetto Bay and Miami Lakes.

Some cities have impact fee requirements that are not related to Miami-Dade County and this should be considered when making plans for development. There are numerous municipalities within Miami-Dade County and each of them has a building and zoning department. You should call the city that has jurisdiction over the property in question to receive municipal impact fee requirement information.

How to apply

You must bring your permit set of building plans and your permit application to the Impact Fee Section to get an assessment to determine the amount you must pay.

This procedure can be done at any time prior to obtaining a building permit. However, before any building permit can be issued, all applicable impact fees must be paid in full at one of the Impact Fee Section offices.

Your application is reviewed for size and type of land use for the new development and an impact fee is assessed if applicable. The time required depends on the size of the project. An addition to an existing home may take a few minutes but a larger project such as a large housing development can take up to 48 hours.

Where to apply

The Impact Fee Section office is located at:
Miami-Dade Permitting and Inspection Center
Impact Fee Section
11805 SW 26th St. (Coral Way)
786-315-2670
Hours of Operation 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday

Paying the fees

Impact fees can be paid online.

In person, visit the Permitting and Inspection Center. For Miami-Dade County issued building permits: cash or checks, either personal or business, are accepted. For any other building permits (incorporated cities), payment must be by cash, cashiers check or money order.

Please note: Water & Sewer impact fees are really a water connection charge and are not a County impact fee. That fee may be paid at Miami-Dade Water & Sewer Department which is located at: 3575 South LeJeune Road, Telephone 305-669-7701 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. or at the Miami-Dade Permitting and Inspection Center (address above) 786-315-2717 between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Some impact fees related to affordable housing, commercial projects within existing enterprise zones or tax increment financing areas, projects subject to Development of Regional Impact Orders (DRIs) or government projects may be exempt. You should check with the impact fee section for more specific information on these exemptions, if you think that your project may qualify.

In the event a building permit expires or is revoked prior to final inspection, a partial refund may be issued to the fee payer of record. There is an administrative charge portion of the impact fee which is non-refundable.

If your permit expires and you have previously paid Impact Fees, you do not have to pay them again. However, if new impact fees have become law or if the rate has increased you would be subject to the new fees.