Ted Koppel Truth Quote1 688w320h

 

Banner AFT COCS graphs large art only cropped 900w50pct

 

Cost of public services provided: water, sewer, roads, schools, fire, police,

medical rescue, etc., per dollar of tax revenue raised for each land use/zoning 

Cost of Community Services (COCS) studies are snapshots in time of costs versus revenues for each type of land use.  They provide a baseline of current information to help local officials and citizens make informed land use and policy decisions. In every study conducted during the past 20 years, farmland has generated a fiscal surplus to help offset the shortfall created by residential demand for public services.

These studies show that, nationwide, residential development is a net fiscal loss for communities.  Taxes on farmland, forest, open land, and industry generate more in tax revenue than they cost in services, while taxes on residential development fail to cover costs.

In other words, replacing farmland with residential development drives your taxes up.

The developers and a few businesses get richer.  You get stuck with the bills.

 Aynes COCS Interview 2017 05 30 v3

Northfield Township Manager Steve Aynes confirming this in a 5/30/2017 interview.  ( Watch the original Video )

 

Read the 2016 American Farmland Trust Cost Of Community Services Study

Read the 2010 AFT Costs of Community Services Study - viewable as an online slideshow

Read the 2010 AFT synopsis of the Costs of Community Services Study - viewable as an online slideshow

 

 

 

404:

http://www.communitypreservation.org/community_services.pdf