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As has been found in other COOS studies , the answers to these questions are negative for Chatham County . Despite being taxed on the basis of current land uses , the farm sector is found to be a net contributor to the local budget , receiving $ 0 . 92 in public services for eve dollar every that it generates in revenues . Conversely , for every dollar contributed to the county budget by residential sector, the county spent somewhere between $ 1 . 07 and $ 1 . 12 in services to that sector. Commercial/industnal land uses are found to be the largest net contributors to the public purse , receiving somewhere between $ 0 . 47 and $ 0 . 76 worth of publicly provided services for each dollar in revenues that they generate , At the outset , it is important to recognize two important limitations of analyses such as the one presented here . First , COCS studies highlight the relative demands of various land uses on local fiscal resources given the current pattern of development. As such , one should be cautious in extrapolating from the results of studies such as this in order to gauge the impact of future patterns of development on local public finance . Nonetheless , the results of studies such as this are useful in informing debates over such issues as whether or not alternative types of land uses are likely to contribute more in tax dollars than they demand in the way of support services . Second, the current study in no way deals with the social value of each of these forms of development — i . e . , their contribution (positive or negative ) to the well -being of the county ' s citizens . Rather it focuses on the more narrow issue of whether or not these land uses "pay their . own way . " It is important to bear in mind that there is nothing particularly sacred reQardina an exact balance between revenues and expenditures associated with a particular land use — even when balancing the local budget is an overriding priority . Indeed, one of the rim functions primary tribute local financial resources such that services desired by of a local Government is to redis citizens are supplied even when those services cannot pay for themselves. Determining the optimal distribution of those resources is a public policy issue resolved in the political arena. A study such as this fits into the process wherein such issues are resolved by shedding light on the relative costs and benefits of specific distribution of financial resources implicit in the existincr pattern of development.