Fiscal Impacts of Development: Literature Review and Discussion

Abstract

This project reviewed literature discussing the fiscal impacts of development and offers relevant commentary and recommendations in light of Delaware’s governance and growth characteristics. Chapter 1 reviews a broad set of literature outlining the fiscal impacts of growth and development, describes Delaware’s relatively unique governance characteristics, and discusses the distribution of the fiscal impacts of development across Delaware’s state and local governments. Chapter 2 describes and presents analysis of the various fiscal-impact-analysis methods used by governments to estimate the cost and revenue impacts of development. Chapter 3 outlines fiscal-impact-analysis applications that could be implemented by Delaware’s state, county, and municipal governments, offering several recommended first steps that would aid implementation. Finally, the annotated bibliography in the Appendix should prove a valuable resource for future research as it lists and briefly summarizes references reviewed for this report.