ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the key assumptions of other fiscal impact methods and compares the results to those of the Spatial Method. Tax-exempt uses are assumed to benefit all types of land use, as in schools, churches and parks, and the relationship to residential. A more recent publication confirms that only the taxable property values are used in a description of the Proportional Valuation Method by using the term “assessed values”. Under the Spatial Method, it is believed that market values, particularly building market values, provide a better way of measuring costs because they better reflect the intensity of land use. The Spatial Method allocates costs using more than just population to determine residential costs. Under the Spatial Method, apartments had higher per capita operating costs due to police calls, but a lower per capita cost due to less road frontage compared to single-family detached.
