Here is a pairing that shows how differently states can handle the same slab of concrete. Tennessee wrote its cost-sharing formula into a statute that has survived since 1913. Kentucky went the other way and deleted its sidewalk statutes entirely.
Kentucky: the statute that is not there
We went looking for Kentucky's sidewalk-repair statute and can report a verified negative: there is no current freestanding state statute assigning sidewalk repair to abutting owners. The old class-based public-works chapters that historically covered sidewalk construction and assessment (KRS Chapters 93 and 94) have had their sidewalk sections repealed; Chapter 94 today contains only Motor Vehicle Parking Authority sections. What remains is the general home-rule grant, KRS 82.082(1): "A city may exercise any power and perform any function within its boundaries... that is in furtherance of a public purpose of the city and not in conflict with a constitutional provision or statute."
The practical meaning: in Kentucky, sidewalk responsibility is written city by city, in municipal ordinances adopted under home rule, with no statewide template. A Louisville answer and a Lexington answer can be entirely different documents. When someone tells you "Kentucky law says the owner pays," the accurate response is that no Kentucky statute says that; the city's own ordinance might.
Tennessee: the 1913 machine, still running
Tennessee's Improvement Act of 1913 (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 7, Chapter 32) authorizes sidewalks as an assessable public improvement and then apportions the bill in Sec. 7-32-115: after completion of the work, the legislative body has the duty "to apportion at least two-thirds (⅔) of the cost of such improvement not paid by federal funds upon the land... abutting on or adjacent to the street, highway, avenue, alley, or other public place... according to the frontage of the lots or parcels."
Read the floor in that sentence: "at least two-thirds." The abutting owners' collective share starts at two-thirds of the cost and can go up from there, the mirror image of South Carolina's half-cost ceiling. Owners must receive written notice by certified mail of the apportionment method and the dollar amount, and the statute adds a clause worth knowing before you fight one of these: "A municipality's determination that public facilities benefit the property subject to assessment under this chapter shall be conclusive."
Our verified city records show how Tennessee's two biggest cities actually run it: Nashville and Memphis.
What to do
- Kentucky: ask for the ordinance, because there is no statute. Any repair notice or assessment must trace to a city ordinance adopted under home rule. Make the city cite it, then read that ordinance's own notice and appeal terms.
- Tennessee: the frontage math is where the money is. The two-thirds floor is statutory, but the apportionment "according to the frontage" is arithmetic you can check. Measure your frontage, check the split.
- Tennessee: do not bet on beating the benefit finding. The statute makes the city's benefit determination conclusive. Procedural errors (notice, method, math) are the contestable surface, not whether the sidewalk helps your lot.
Sources: KRS 82.082 (official Kentucky legislature site, quoted verbatim; Chapters 93/94 repeal status confirmed on the chapter listings) and Tenn. Code Ann. 7-32-115 (via Justia's code archive, disclosed per our methodology). City rules live in the complete city guide.