The Fiscal Impacts of Alternative Land Uses : An Empirical Investigation of Cost of Community Services Studies

Current knowledge of the fiscal impacts of alternative land uses comes largely from cost of community services (CCS) case studies, the results of which are viewed skeptically in the literature because of numerous methodological concerns. In order to begin to fill the gap in our understanding of these impacts, we provide the first empirical estimates of the relationship between a complete accounting of community fiscal measures and the full distribution of acres of land uses in the jurisdiction. We find evidence in support of the broad conclusions of CCS studies: a shift from agricultural to residential land is associated with a deficit, whereas a shift to commercial land is correlated with a surplus. We provide insights into which revenue/expenditure and land use subcategories are responsible for these results