Manatee County overdue on Cost of Community Services Study

Good growth?

A community knows it has good growth when it is a better place to live after the growth than before. The quality of life for residents is better. There are more permanent well-paying jobs. The schools have high ratings and low dropout rates.

Traffic moves along with little or no congestion. Taxes are stable or lower. There is no urban sprawl. There are new community amenities such as parks, playgrounds, preserves, and bicycle pathways. The streets are clean, attractive, and well maintained.

Residents may walk or ride bicycles safely to destinations near and far on connected bicycle/pedestrian pathways. The natural environment is beautiful and protected for future generations. Residents are proud of their community and respect their elected officials. Visitors want to live there.

Growth increases the tax-base; good growth has a positive impact on the economy because the growth in tax revenue is greater than the cost of services demanded by that growth.

A compilation of 83 studies by the American Farmland Trust compared tax revenue from residential and commercial/industrial properties to the cost of community services for those properties. In other words, for every dollar of tax revenue increase, how much was spent to provide community services for each of those property types? The study found that for every $1 of increase in tax revenue from residential development, it costs a median of $1.15 to provide community services while a $1 increase in tax revenue from commercial/industrial development costs a median of $0.27 to provide community services. High-value residential property produced a more favorable ratio.

So, how is Manatee County doing? Although I am quite certain I know, there is no way to know for sure without a Cost of Community Services Study (COCS). The last one done in Manatee County was in 1983!

Edward Goff

Bradenton

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County overdue on Cost of Community Services Study ."