Miami-Dade County Impact Fees: Rates, Credits & Refunds

Miami-Dade County impact fees are one-time charges assessed on new development to pay for the roads, parks, police stations, fire and EMS facilities, and schools that growth creates demand for. Across all five categories, a single-family detached home can face combined fees exceeding $30,000, and the total depends on where the project sits, how large it is, and what use it will support.¹ The county runs the program on a “growth pays for growth” model, so the money collected is legally restricted to the category it was collected for. Parks money cannot pay for roads, and mobility money cannot pay for schools.

The Five Fee Categories

Miami-Dade organizes its impact fees into five categories, each with its own chapter of the County Code and its own rate structure.

Multimodal Mobility (Chapter 33E) is the largest single fee. It funds transportation capacity, including new road lanes, intersection upgrades, transit, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.²
Parks (Chapter 33H) funds park land acquisition, open space, and recreation facilities.³
Police Services (Chapter 33I) pays for new stations, vehicles, and equipment.
Fire and Emergency Medical Services (Chapter 33J) covers new fire stations and EMS equipment.⁴
Educational Facilities (Chapter 33K) is assessed only on residential development and funds new school capacity.⁵

Any project that adds infrastructure demand can trigger fees. New homes, apartments, retail, offices, and industrial buildings all generate assessments at permitting.¹ Additions that increase square footage or intensity of use trigger fees on the net increase. A change of use, such as converting a warehouse to a restaurant, is assessed on the difference between the new use and the old one. If the new use has a lower impact rating, no fee is owed for that category, but you do not receive cash back for the reduction.⁶

How the County Calculates What You Owe

Every calculation starts with the land use code assigned to your project. The county publishes a detailed rate schedule that sets a dollar amount per unit of measurement for each land use across every fee category.⁷ For residential projects, the base measurement is typically the dwelling unit. For commercial and industrial projects, it is usually gross square footage.

Residential projects carry a parks component calculated at $612 per unit plus $0.918 per gross square foot, so larger homes pay somewhat more in that category. The educational facilities fee applies only to residential units. Commercial development avoids the school fee entirely but faces higher mobility rates for high-traffic uses like restaurants and medical offices.⁷

Reporting square footage accurately matters. So does knowing whether the county measures gross or net area for your specific land use. Getting either wrong can produce a materially different assessment. Mobility fees also carry a built-in 2 percent administrative charge to cover program costs.

Benefit Districts and Urban Infill Areas

For mobility fee purposes, Miami-Dade is divided into nine benefit districts. Fees collected in a district are spent primarily on projects within that district, so the rate schedule varies by location.⁸

The county also distinguishes between Urban Infill Areas (UIAs) and non-UIA locations. The UIA generally covers the area east of and including the Palmetto Expressway (SR-826) and NW/SW 77th Avenue, excluding the zone north and west of I-95. Projects inside the UIA typically pay slightly lower mobility rates than those in more suburban areas, reflecting shorter average trip lengths in denser locations.

Credits That Reduce Your Fees

If your project replaces or redevelops a structure that already existed on the site, you are entitled to credits against the new fees. The reasoning is straightforward: the county already accounted for whatever was there before, and you should not pay twice for the same impact.

Credits are based on impact fees actually paid for the prior development, or on the amount of lawfully existing development on the property between December 6, 1988, and June 4, 1989 (when the county’s original road impact fee ordinance took effect), whichever is greater.⁶ On a change-of-use project, you pay only the difference between the fee for the new use and the credit for the old use.

Transferring Excess Credits

If you paid fees for more development than you actually built, you may hold excess credits. Those credits can be transferred to another property within the same benefit district. The transfer requires a formal application to the Zoning Director and recorded declarations of restrictions on both the sending and receiving properties.⁶

Reallocation Within a Parent Tract

For parcels within the same parent tract or joined by a unity of title, the Zoning Director can reallocate credits among the related parcels. This is useful for master-planned developments where phasing may shift the amount of development on individual parcels over time.

Exemptions and Alternatives to Cash Payment

Affordable and Workforce Housing

Miami-Dade exempts certain affordable and workforce housing developments from impact fees. The exemption originally applied to housing targeted at households earning up to 80 percent of Area Median Income, and the county has since expanded it to cover developments serving households up to 120 percent of AMI.⁹ Because total impact fees on a residential unit can reach tens of thousands of dollars, the exemption meaningfully lowers construction costs for qualifying projects.

Land Dedication for Parks

Residential developments of more than 50 dwelling units can request to dedicate land for a public local park in place of paying the park impact fee in cash. The developer submits the request to the Director before tentative platting, and the Director decides whether land, money, or a mix best serves park needs in the area. The decision considers factors like proximity to the new development, maintaining the county’s minimum level of service for local parks, and whether the dedication supports projects in the capital plan. Approved dedications must be conveyed by plat and deed, with a recorded agreement in place before the first final plat is filed.³

Independent Fee Calculation

If you believe the standard schedule overstates your project’s actual impact, Section 33E-9 of the County Code allows you to commission an independent fee calculation. This is a formal study that the county must approve, not a letter of disagreement. If the study produces a lower fee, later changes to the development are measured against the study’s assumptions rather than the standard schedule.⁶ This route is worth considering for unusual land uses where the standard schedule assigns a category that does not fit the project’s actual trip generation or service demand.

Paying the Fees

Impact fees must be paid in full before Miami-Dade issues a building permit. There are no installment plans for the fees themselves, and unpaid fees stop the permit from moving forward.¹

The Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources handles payment through an online Impact Fee system available seven days a week, from 12:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.¹⁰ You can also pay through the county’s general ePayment portal.¹¹ In-person payment can be arranged at designated county offices. After payment, the online system produces a receipt confirming the obligation is satisfied, which is required to proceed with the building permit.

Refunds for Temporary Uses

If you paid fees for a temporary use and later remove all associated structures, a partial refund may be available. The amount depends on how quickly the structures come down after payment:

Within 1 year: 80 percent refund
Within 2 years: 60 percent refund
Within 3 years: 40 percent refund
Within 4 years: 20 percent refund
After 5 years: no refund

Administrative costs and convenience fees are not refunded regardless of timing. You must submit a written request to the County Planning and Zoning Director with proof that all temporary structures have been removed.⁶

State Caps on Future Fee Increases

Florida Statute 163.31801 limits how quickly any local government, Miami-Dade included, can raise its impact fees. The main restrictions:

No fee can be raised by more than 50 percent of its current rate.
Fees cannot be increased more than once every four years.
An increase of 25 percent or less must be phased in over two equal annual installments. An increase between 25 and 50 percent must be phased in over four equal annual installments.
An increase cannot be applied retroactively to a previous or current fiscal year.

A local government can exceed these limits only under extraordinary circumstances: a demonstrated-need study completed within the prior 12 months, at least two public workshops, and a unanimous vote of the governing body. Even then, the increase must be phased in over two to four annual installments.¹² For developers budgeting multi-year projects, that gives a usable ceiling on how much fees can shift before permits are pulled.

1
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County Impact Fees
2
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County Code Chapter 33E – Multimodal Mobility Impact Fee Ordinance and Standard Impact Fee Procedures
3
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade Legislative Item File Number 212433
4
Municode Library. Miami-Dade County Code Chapter 33J – Fire and Emergency Medical Services Impact Fee Ordinance
5
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade Legislative Item File Number 070451
6
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County Code Chapter 33E – Road Impact Fee Ordinance
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Miami-Dade County. Impact Fee Rates
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Miami-Dade County. County-Wide Multimodal Mobility Impact Fee Ordinance
9
Miami-Dade County. Affordable and Workforce Housing Expedited Plan Review
10
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County – IFS Online Payment
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Miami-Dade County. ePayment – Section: Pay Impact Fees
12
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 163.31801 – Impact Fees