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14 Community and Economic Development Bulletin 2 9 capture negative externalities and other unintended consequences such as traffic congestion and environmental pollution, which can harm a community's quality of life. Of course, some devel- opment projects can enrich the quality of life in ways that a traditional impact analysis would ignore, such as by enhancing arts and cultural amenities. Conclusion An economic development project can create tangible benefits for local or regional economies and real costs and revenues for local governments. Public officials must understand both types of impact-economic and fiscal. In this sense, the economic and fiscal impact methods dis- cussed in this bulletin are complementary approaches; they both provide critical information needed to make sound public investment decisions about economic development. When used separately, each approach only partially reveals the potential impacts of growth and develop- ment. Local governments might consider including some basic level of impact analysis as part of the standard due diligence conducted for routine development projects. Small-scale proj- ects might not necessitate the time and costs required to conduct a comprehensive and highly detailed analysis. However, most major development projects will likely warrant an integrated approach that combines economic and fiscal impact analyses. Indeed, a local government should probably link its fiscal impact model directly to an economic impact model whenever possible. Some newer prepackaged models combine economic and fiscal impact analyses in one soft- ware application. Impact DataSource, a consulting firm based in Austin, Texas, offers two ver- sions of an integrated model: Quick Impact and Total Impact. The model is a Microsoft Excel- based program that uses RIMS II multipliers to calculate economic impacts and uses local tax rates and average service costs per household and pupil to translate these impacts into addi- tional local government revenues and costs. The model calculates the net fiscal impact (benefits minus costs) of a development project and discounts net benefits to reflect their present value. In addition, the model enables users to calculate the rate of return on any incentives offered to a business and the number of years necessary to recoup the incentives (payback period). The model does not produce results with the extensive industry detail of IMPLAN or REMI and is not designed to conduct dynamic, advanced regional analysis. However, the model is user- friendly and its combination of economic and fiscal impact analyses can help public officials better understand how an economic development project will affect both the local economy and the local government. The Quick Impact version of the model produces economic and fiscal impact analyses for only one taxing district while the Total Impact version can provide results for multiple jurisdictions. Both versions are available by subscription. For more information, visit www.impactdatasource.com. Table 1, on page 15, compares features of the six impact analysis tools discussed in this bul- letin. Despite their limitations, when used appropriately these tools will, more often than not, yield results that are more credible and accurate than the "back of the envelope" calculations so often used to "guesstimate" the impacts of development projects. The available models and soft- ware applications take some of the guesswork out of the process by providing a template for the data and information that the user will supply. A learning curve is required, however, to avoid treating the models as "black boxes" that will generate numbers with a few quick keyboard strokes. The most meaningful impact results are generated when users understand how to tweak ©2010 School of Government. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill