Development costs local government money for services. In fact, a recent study in Macon County reveals that the cost of development often outweighs the tax benefits.

The study was commissioned by the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee and the Little Tennessee Watershed Association and conducted by professors at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.
Paul Carlson, executive director of the Land Trust, was quite blunt about why the study was conducted.

“We had the report done because the tax base was increasing, but at the same time taxes were still increasing. We wanted to see what the cost of uncontrolled growth was and thought the value of farm and forest land is greater than estimated.”

The results supported Carlson’s contention: in many cases, the cost of providing water and sewer, police protection, emergency services, human services, schools, and roads will cost a county more than the development might pay in taxes. Leaving land undeveloped still reaps tax revenue yet does not increase expenditures on all those others services. Looked at from this perspective, taxes for residents who live in the county remain lower if some land is left undeveloped. Growth costs.

Studies like this shouldn’t give anyone the idea that all commercial, residential and industrial development is bad. That is simply not true.

What is important, however, is broadening our perspective. Most people know that rural land and undeveloped tracts are valuable in and of themselves because they define our sense of place. They are also good for the environment and valuable foundations for the Western North Carolina tourism industry.

What this report tells us, though, is that discouraging some private land from being developed makes good fiscal sense. Paving over Macon - or any other mountain county - will only drive up taxes, increase the cost of living, hike the value of the property and run working families off their land.

Simply put, the study tells us that, in many cases, preservation of rural, undeveloped land is just as important for fiscal health as landing huge development projects. Getting people to see the value of that is vital to the future of this region.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News