DENVER—"The
Fiscal Cost of Sprawl: How Sprawl Contributes to Local Governments' Budget Woes,"
a report released today by Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center,
found that the high cost of providing and maintaining infrastructure for sprawling
development hurts taxpayers and contributes to the fiscal crises facing many
Colorado local governments. Research from around the state shows that Colorado
communities could save billions of dollars in infrastructure costs by promoting
smart growth.
"Sprawl is putting
a financial choke hold on our cash-strapped cities and counties," said
report author, Will Coyne, land use advocate for Environment Colorado.
The cost to provide public
infrastructure and services for a specific population in new sprawling development
is higher than to service that same population in a smart growth or infill development.
Sprawling and "leapfrog" developments (those built far away from the
current urban area) tend to be dispersed across the land, requiring longer public
roads and water and sewer lines to provide service. Such developments often
impose increased costs on police and fire departments and schools.
At the same time, sprawling
development does not generate enough tax revenue to cover the costs it incurs
on communities to provide new infrastructure and public services. Research by
Colorado State University found that in Colorado, "dispersed rural residential
development costs county governments and schools $1.65 in service expenditures
for every dollar of tax revenue generated."
"In this fiscal climate,
cities and counties have to look for ways to reduce the costs of servicing new
development without lowering quality to existing residents," said Dr. Daphne
Greenwood, an economist with the Center for Colorado Policy Studies at the University
of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "A growing body of evidence points to
smart growth as a way to do that."
Key findings of "The
Fiscal Cost of Sprawl: How Sprawl Contributes To Local Governments' Budget Woes,"
included the following:
• A Federal Transit
Administration report conducted by the Transit Cooperative Research Program
estimates that smart growth would save the Denver-Boulder-Greeley area $4 billion
in road and highway construction over 25 years—a savings of 21 percent.
• Denver Regional
Council of Governments (DRCOG) research conducted in the planning process for
the Metro Vision 2020 update found that sprawling development would cost Denver
regional governments $4.3 billion more in infrastructure costs than compact
smart growth through 2020.
• Similarly, DRCOG
found that a 12 square mile expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary around Denver
to accommodate additional sprawling growth would cost taxpayers $293 million
dollars, $30 million of which would be subsidized by the region as a whole.
• University of Colorado
at Denver researchers determined that future sprawling development in Delta,
Mesa, Montrose and Ouray counties would cost taxpayers and local governments
$80 million more than smart growth development between 2000 and 2025.
• New research from
the Center for Colorado Policy at the University of Colorado Springs points
to infill development and increased residential densities as an important factor
contributing to the substantial savings in infrastructure costs in Colorado
Springs between 1980 and 2000.
Environment Colorado's research
also found that most local governments do not know the true cost of development
decisions. Most local governments, including the cities of Denver and Arapahoe,
Douglas, and Jefferson Counties, do not regularly conduct comprehensive fiscal
impact analysis of proposed development projects.
Expensive infrastructure
projects associated with sprawling developments are approved in part because
the costs are hidden in a variety of state and federal subsidies. Federal and
state incentives, such as federal highway dollars or federal Community Development
Block Grants for new infrastructure, promote expensive growth related infrastructure
projects, by effectively reducing the price of providing public services.
The report recommends that
Colorado decision makers support smart growth to ease future budget shortfalls
and protect taxpayers' wallets. The report encourages local communities to 1)
conduct fiscal impact analysis when considering development projects, 2) make
growth pay its own way through impact fees and graduated utility rates, and
3) end taxpayer subsidies for sprawling development.
"Smart growth is not
just a solution to protect open space and wildlife habitat," said Coyne.
"It's the key to our financial future. Smart growth is smart money."
