The Real Cost of Growth Si Hard To Figure

The Real Cost of Growth is Hard to Figure

By Mike Archer
Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer

June 19, 2002

Howard Barry, plain-talking former New York City firefighter, got up to challenge the audience at a meeting I once attended in Clermont.

Tell me one place in America where growth paid for itself, he asked the audience. Name one place where taxes and fees dropped because of growth.

The room was packed with plenty of public officials, scientists and other brainy folks, but nobody could answer him.

In Lake County, growth means housing. Because growth is such a hot topic here, it might be wise to weigh its actual costs on schools, traffic, water and public services.

Four county officials -- Allen Hewitt, Patti Michel, Jeff Richardson and Gregg Welstead -- met with me Monday to search for the full cost of growth in Lake County. More folks from the Public Works Department will join the hunt soon, as well as the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council. I am grateful for their help.

State leaders say they want a clear look at growth's real cost, but that's easier said than done.

At the local level, where growth gets the green light, no single record exists to answer this complex question.

Because decision-makers must act without knowing the actual costs, they usually say yes with what can only be a vague idea how growth will affect taxpayers.

Once the location, size, number of housing units, number of car trips and number of students for developments in Lake County can be compiled and considered in historical context, cost experts can figure out how much of a dent it puts in the taxpayers' wallet.

Officials agree that even with new technology, collecting this info is not an easy job. County staffers in different departments keep track of several layers of permitting. These individual pieces get studied closely and move along toward approval in various memos, letters and reports. In order to explain the full impact, you have to dig through each part and pull out costs.

It only makes sense to figure these costs, though, because as recent headlines reveal, growth seems to be driving up fees and taxes. When taxes go up, most people believe they have a right to know why.

Schools struggle

Another problem: growth's impact on schools. Crowded classes mean students get less attention.

Lake County's budgeted student population is 30,429, according to the finance office. Five years ago that number was 25,995. Ten years ago, 22,860.

The county's education budget shot up, too. Ten years ago, $150,315,805. Five years ago, $173,158,170. Today, $299,072,430.

Just one project, Lennar/Minneola, will bring 1,765 more students to south Lake County, according to school records.

In a letter dated Jan. 17, Donald Turpin, assistant superintendent of Business and Support Services, outlined the capacity of schools closest to this project. Four of six were seriously overfilled.

Who pays for books, computers, classrooms, teachers, buses and bus drivers, principals, school nurses, science labs and mystery meat needed to serve 1,765 more students?

Better answer fast: Here come more kids. Bent Tree subdivision, 59 students, Timberlane, 63, Oswalt Landing, 31, Pine Island, 234. Bigger and bigger, yes. But better?

That depends on the money available to educate new kids, and money needed to make sure kids in older neighborhoods get a good education, too.

Robbing an older school to build up a new one hardly makes sense.

Conservation or con job?

Growth also affects water, especially around The Villages and in south Lake County, where millions of gallons of groundwater get pumped from the underground aquifer to feed development.

County commissioners, especially Bob Pool and Catherine Hanson, up for re-election this year, love to talk about conservation.

That's dandy, but what good does conservation do if we just keep approving more developments?

Under a fair system, low water users would pay less and big users would pay more. Heavy penalties would discourage massive withdrawals for development.

Environmental economist and planner Eben Fodor, in his book Better not Bigger (New Society Publishers), researched the impact of growth on cities and came up with a true-false quiz. County commissioners ought to take it.

Sample questions:

Police protection costs (per capita) are less in bigger cities. False.

Environmental regulation is bad for the economy. False.

The more cities grow, the more people are unemployed. True.

Development land usually produces more net revenues for the city (tax revenues minus cost of public services) than undeveloped land. False.

I spoke with Fodor on the phone Monday. He works in Oregon, and he's heard from people across the country in places suffering from sprawl.

"People are overrun by traffic and noise pollution," he said. "The air stinks, the water tastes like crud."

In case after case, a common problem is takeover of local government by what he calls the growth machine.

Get the numbers

"The first line of defense is to get subsidization out of the growth equation," Fodor said.

"If the public were more aware of how their tax money and utility payments are being spent to induce growth, they would be appalled."

He said developers everywhere say the same things: Growth creates jobs, growth brings affordable housing, growth helps taxpayers.

"People are being fed a line of rhetoric. With little more than common sense you can see that these claims, that have been made for decades, aren't true," he said.

While growth advocates point to new tax revenue and government planners toil through burdensome paperwork, nobody seems to be adding up the full price for new schools, sewage plants, traffic signals, roads, police, firefighters and other needed services, he said.

"These costs never appear in the public debate on growth," he said. "To a large extent the growth industry has co-opted the smart-growth language, so smart growth just becomes more growth."

Fodor believes permanent reforms -- such as getting developer money out of politics -- are needed to restore the traditional strength of local democracy.

One good example of reform that could help Lake County occurred in Oregon, where, Fodor said, 30 cities pulled annexing power away from politicians and gave it to voters.

Now the people say yes or no to annexing based on how it will affect them.

Fodor's message needs to be heard in Lake County. Citizens have every right to slow growth and find the right mix of business and population, a balance that will sustain life here and make it better, not worse.

Contact Mike Archer at 352-742-5922, 1898 E. Burleigh Blvd., Tavares, 32778, or marcher@orlandosentinel.com.

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