FISCAL IMPACTS ILLUSTRATOR

The Fiscal Impacts Illustrator strives to provide applied planning techniques and information to the local governments and citizens of Utah. The Illustrator focuses on the financial implications associated with the most common land uses (agricultural, commercial, residential).

Residents in any area expect certain services to be provided by the local government. However, it is not uncommon for local budgets to become overextended, especially in areas experiencing rapid growth or increased urbanization. In situations where local expenditures are greater than revenues, neither residents or the local governments prefer increased taxes or a decreased amount of government services. In order to provide practical information and to help avoid the aforementioned scenario, the Fiscal Impacts Illustrator provides a hypothetical, interactive grid which users can easily change and manipulate to see how changes in land use could affect the local budgets.

Hopefully, the Fiscal Impacts Illustrator will enable a better understanding of the the budget and service implications associated with different types of land use so that local governments and residents will be able to make better land-use decisions for their communities.

Finally, although the Fiscal Impacts Illustrator shows residential land-use requiring more expenditures than it provides in revenue, it is important to note that it is not advocating for a particular type of land-use or trying to discourage residential land-use. The objective of the Fiscal Impacts Illustrator is to provide better information to local governments so that they can encourage fiscally responsible development and avoid a situation where governmental expenditures exceed revenues.