Council and most city residents fail to recognize that development inevitably costs taxpayers much more money than it brings in and often increases local unemployment. Property taxes usually must increase to pay for the expanded infrastructure and services to accommodate more buildings, traffic, and a growing population. New sales tax revenues pay only a small portion of these costs. This exceeds the square footage of all existing retail space in the entire City of Ithaca. The new book, Better Not Bigger , by Eben Fodor, cites many case studies of cities such as Eugene, Oregon, and Boulder, Colorado, that show how taxpayers foot the bill for development.
Growth provides needed tax revenues.
In truth, growth tends to raise local tax rates. A 1991 study in DuPage County, Illinois, showed that as the county grew, taxes kept going up, and that new development tended to increase property taxes, especially in communities with rapid growth. These findings made the front page of the Wall Street Journal . We have to grow to provide jobs for people in the community. The truth is that growth just makes the local unemployment problem bigger .