Public Goals, Property Values, and Regional Cooperation

Do public officials care about property values? If so, are their decisions about tax rates, public spending, land use, and regional cooperation paying off? Fiscal and land use data for Connecticut’s 169 towns offer some insights about development patterns and how local public policies may affect the value of real property—structures and land. We look at the effects of municipal tax, spending and land-use policies, as well as the impact of regional cooperation—in the form of regional school districts—on the value of real property per acre of available land. Fiscal policies and the level of development have the anticipated effects on property values, but the impact of participation in regional high school districts is less clear.