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98 <br /> COST OF CONfNIUNITY SERVICES IN CHATHAM COUNTY <br /> Introduction <br /> Like many rural counties located near fast- growing urban areas , Chatham County faces a <br /> complex set *ofissues revolving around the desirable mi <br /> P x of land uses within the county . Over <br /> the Past decade , the continuing economic growth of the adjoining counties of the Research <br /> Triangle have created unprecedented demands for residential and commercial development in <br /> .. Count On the one hand, this situation has been welcomed by manymbecause it has <br /> Chatham y <br /> created significant economic development opportunities for the county ' s citizens and a <br /> signifi cant increase in the county ' s revenue base . On the other hand, many of the county ' s <br /> citizens worry that the rapid pace of these changes will alter the rural character of Chatham <br /> County in ways that are undesirable . <br /> As new land uses supplant traditional ones in Chatham County , there is concern that the <br /> increased local government expenditures on community services needed to accommodate <br /> accelerated <br /> residential and commercial development may exceed the contribution of that <br /> to the county ' ings of a r <br /> s revenue base . This report presents the findesearch project <br /> development <br /> aimed at addressing this specific issue . The research quantified the contribution to local <br /> ;government revenues of various land use sectors (residential , commercial , industrial , and <br /> al government financial resources of those same land use <br /> farmland) , and the demands on loc <br /> s " snapshot" <br /> sectors . This " shot" of current revenues and expenditures allows an assessment of the costs <br /> and benefits of different land uses from the perspective of local government finance . <br /> resented here employs a methodology established by the American Farmland <br /> The analysisp <br /> sed in numerous Cost of Community Services (COOS ) studies <br /> Trust one that has been u <br /> U . S . Like those studies , the current research was motivated by two questions : ( 1 ) <br /> throughout the . <br /> Does farmland <br /> receive an unfair tax advantage when it is assessed at its actual use — as in North <br /> Carolina — instead of its potential use in residential or commercial development ? (? ) Do the <br /> property ert taxes and other revenues generated by residential , commercial and industrial land uses <br /> exceed the amount of publicly - provided services required by those land uses ? <br />