Harford County
The Cost of Community Services
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The American Farmland Trust has completed a Cost of Community Services Study showing that residential development in Harford County brings in less revenue than it costs the county to provide the public services it requires.
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Conversely, the study, based on county books for fiscal year 2002, shows that the annual service costs for industrial/commercial development and farmland/open space are considerably less than the revenue that comes in from those categories. As David P. Miller, executive director of the Harford Land Trust commented, "We are glad to have the information generated by this independent study to help to guide future public land use decisions. It gives all of us baseline data to help us understand the true costs of the basic land uses and what it takes to support them. This is the first time Harford County has had this kind of picture."
A group of Hartford County non-profit organizations commissioned this $15,000 study last May as a tool for making informed land use decisions for the new Master Plan now in progress. The Harford Land Trust took responsibility as the lead organization
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photo: Irene Kern
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with support and contributions from the Harford County Farm Bureau, The Deer Creek Watershed Association, The Manor Conservancy, Exelon Generation, the owner of the Conowingo hydroelectric plant, Friends of Harford, Inc., and the New Harford Democratic Club.
The results refute claims from some interests that development is the "highest and best use" of open lands, and that residential development will lower property taxes.
This study found that for county services:
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Residential development generated $276,561,564 in revenues to cover expenditures of $305,962,839 for county services such as schools, road and bridge maintenance, courts, public safety personnel, etc. In other words, on average, for $1.00 of revenue generated by the residential sector, the county spent $1.11.
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Commercial and Industrial development generated revenues of $48,403,714 to cover expenditures of $19,385,221. That means that for every $1.00 of revenue generated by this category of land use, the county spent 40 cents to provide its services.
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Farm and open lands generated $3,020,609 to cover expenditures of $2,752,599, meaning that for every $1.00 of revenue generated by farm/open lands, the county spent 91 cents to provide services.
In making its calculations the American Farmland Trust included the county's General Fund, Highway Fund, Capital Projects Fund and non-major Parks & Recreation Fund.
It did not include Harford's Agricultural Land Preservation Program which it described as unique among its studies to date. Agricultural land preservation, according to the study, "benefits the county broadly and in a manner that the COCS methodology is not designed to estimate." The Grants Fund, likewise, is not included because it comes from state and federal sources and cannot be linked to any particular land use.
The sponsors of the study initially expressed concern that it did not address capital needs that had not been met but put off into the future. The American Farmland Trust then added to its basic study its calculations on the county's six-year capital improvements budget.
After determining which projects would require local funding, how much debt service for capital bonds would be needed, and how prospective costs would affect the cost of community services in the three land use categories the study figured the impact for each land use. Again the figures showed the revenue from residential development to fall short of the county's expenditures for that category.
"Needless to say," the study concluded, "good planning will be required to fund and accommodate the growth that is occurring in Harford County. For people working in the planning process it is important to note that while farm and open lands generate low revenues, their annual service costs are even lower."
The complete study can be obtained from the Harford Land Trust, P. O. Box 385, Churchville, MD 21028-0385 for a cover charge of $5.00 for postage and handling, or can be downloaded directly using the link below. A synopsis can be read here...
COCS Study (pdf, Mb download)
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Photo: HLT