ABSTRACT
The Comparable City Method is used to project marginal fiscal impact. It relies upon relationships between community size and growth rate and local expenditure levels to project the effect of population change on municipal and school district costs and revenues. A variation of the Comparable City Method was first used when analysts first considered the common expenditure traits of communities of similar size. The Comparable City Method relies on expenditure multipliers that vary by size and growth rate of community or school district. The Comparable City fiscal impact method is to be used in situations where the analyst feels that the experience of other communities undergoing population change will support the anticipated variations in the community being analyzed. The purpose of the fiscal impact analysis also helps determine the application of the Comparable City Method. A basic assumption of the Comparable City Method is that public service expenditures vary significantly according to a community's size and growth rate.
