Agenda - 01-10-1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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r 74%Residential 69%Residential R 65%Restoenhal r. 2474 Commercial/ 26%Commercial/ 21%Commercial/ Industrial Industrial Industrial Form/Open Land 5%Form/Open Land ,; 14%Form/Open land A> 91%Residential 89%Residential - 87%Residenhol rvl.% 8%Commercial/ " 10%Commercial/ •"" 8%Commercial/ Industrial Industrial Industrial Form/Open Land 1%Form/6pen Land Form/Open Land sponsors chose not to differentiate between commercial and basis.Snte aid to schools was considered a residential revenue. industrial lands. Local receipts such as the motor vehicle tax,licenses,and permits, The next step for the researchers was to obtain reliable revenue were each apportioned by land use"as much as possible,"says the and expuue figures.All financial records for each town from a report. recent,typical year(meaning one that was not a boom or bust The researchers had an easier time categorizing revenues financially)were reviewed for the calculations.Important data came according to land-use type than expenditures because tax records from the towns'annual reports and Tax Rate Recapitulation Forms, include lot numbers,acres,property classification,and value. On sheets all Massachusetts towns and cities must submit to the state the contrary,most data on expenditures was not kept according to outlining their projected revenues and appropriations to determine land use.Researchers had to rely on budget allocations, local tax rates.The state Department of Revenue provided departmental expense reports,other financial data,and extensive information on state aid for eduction and transportation.This step interviews with service providers. also involved extensive interviewing of local officials and service Expenditures were grouped in five classes:general government, providem public safety,eduction,human services,and public works. Eduarion and human services were considered residential expenses Allocating Revenues and Expenses because they serve town residents directly.Building and zoning After the data were collected,the income and expenses on each department expenses were based on the number of permits and budget were reorganized to correspond with the assigned land-use inspections required for each land-use sector.The expenses of other categories.Discrepancies arose when deciding which types of lands services,such as police and fire,were more difficult to allocate by (and the resultant property tax income)should go into each land- land rue.Much of police and fire department annual budgets go to use Category.For example,the state of Massachusetts considers inspections,public eduction,and safety,none of which was easy to certain farm land to be commercial property.Bur,as Freedgood attribute to a specific use.Also,reviewing fire department records acknowledges"the nar=of[firm land)use and the type of services helped determine where the calls came from but did not make dear it requires are more closely associated with open land than with how much it cost to put each fire out Instead resarchers had to malls,morels,or movie theaters."Therefore,revenue generated by interview fire chiefs to determine how long it took to put each fire faun lands is included in the farm and open lands section,not the our,how many fire fighters were called in,and how much commercial section,on the spreadsheet. equipment was used A similar process was used to alloCare police Conversely,property taxes from farm houses and housing for department expenses.As the report states,"Domestic violence,for farm workers was attributed to the residential category.Also,taxes example was charged to residential.Cows in the road went to farm generated from rented homes were subtracted from commercial and open land" and added to residential.As Freedgood explains,"This is because a Public works expenses,particularly highways,proved to COCS study is concerned with who demands services,not the legal be the most d5cult to allocre-In some instances there was smtus of the property.Whether residents are farmers Iiving on the information available on the types orvehicles using the roads land or renters leasing from an absentee landlord,they require the and the frequency of trips,but for the most part,local sponsors same type of public services." were celled upon to make estimations. Other sources of income also had to be allocated on a land-use Finally,AFT researchers relied on the percentage of property rax 2