The club released a report Thursday, claiming the areas with the worst sprawl do not generate enough tax revenue to pay for the services they consume. This causes taxpayers in non-sprawl areas to subsidize areas including utilities and emergency services, the report said. As communities spread out, more roads are built, and people are forced to commute longer and longer. The federal government encourages this trend by providing four times more money for building highways than for public transportation, the report said. Public money goes for more buildings, and commuting costs increase as schools are built further from cities and from public transportation.
Taxpayers have to pay for establishing sewer and water services in newly developed areas.
The residents in the new areas do not pay enough taxes to cover their expenses, and the rest of the community picks up the bill. As communities spread further out, more fire and police stations have to be built to keep response times quick. The governments spend the money to lure projects that create jobs to their towns but still get little in return. Yet, despite the project that has eaten up land and resources, the company recently cut 800 jobs from the area. Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.