What is the economic balance sheet of urban growth?
There are several different ways to think about the economic balance sheet of urban growth. What we choose to enter into the ledger sheet depends on how we look at the situation and what we value. To begin, let us consider a strict accounting of the taxes generated and the cost of services provided arising from urban growth. Then we will look at other ways of assessing the economic benefits and costs of growth. The argument has often been made that residential growth generates new income for the community through higher property taxes. This is true. As land is converted from lower property tax value use (agricultural land) to higher property tax value use (residential, commercial, industrial land), communities do generate more income from property taxes. However, this only looks at one side of the balance sheet. Property taxes are the primary source of local income to support a host of community services (e.g., police and fire protection, education) and the construction and maintenance
