03-13-1995 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Farmland ’s top yield isn’t residential taxes By Lee Ronning Arcumcnls for saving Icrtilc farmla'nd fron’ being destroyed by urban sprawl often center on the environmental and social impacts ol rampant development patterns But for better or worse, it’s the linancial bottom line that carries real weieht w ith decision-makers As a result, the environmental and siKial havoc w reaked by urban sprawl is often justi fied on grounds that new development increases the tax base, thus improv ing schools and other community services. However, recent rmancial analyses of the costs of sprawling growth are knocking the legs out from under"the economic justifications for uncontrolled develop ment patterns. Simply put. land-gobbling res idential projects often cost commu nities more than they give back in property taxes. That was the conclusion of a studv recently conducted by the Und Stewardship Project and the American Farmland Trust in three metro-area communities Farmington. Lake Elmo and Independence. Entitled. FarmUvuland ihc Ta\ Hdl: The Cost of Coniinniun Services in Three Minnesota Cities. the study traces the How ol rev enues and expenditures generated The Twin Cities area is the third least densely populated metropolitan region in the country, but one of the histest growing geographically. hv >pccific land uses On average, f.irinland adds twice as much to hKal tax bases as it demands back in Ncrvices. according to the studv Using data g.«hered ifoin the Minnesota Depariinent of Revenue. Office of State Auditor and the Minnesota Department of Education, the analysis found that in those three comnuinities. for cverv SI in lax revenue generated by residen tial development, r’ti .iverage SI was spent to prov ide ser vices such as sewers and streets. According to a study conducted in Wright County by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the fur ther away from exist ing infrastructure development is locat ed. the more costly it is to prov ide services. We conducted the three-community study 111 hopes ot providing the kind ol localized, bottom-line information that has already been well-docu mented in other states. We hope this data will help city officials bet ter evaluate the impact of land use decisions on municipal and schwil district finances The three communities studied were chosen because they represent cities undergoing various stages ol development within 25 miles ol the Minneapolis-Si Paul downtown area. Indcpeiulcnce is growing FORUM to page 9