Cost of Community Services: Albemarle County
This study examines the Cost of Community Services for land use categories in Albemarle County for FY 2022. Albemarle County is a predominantly rural county with a large urban population and is one of five localities that form the Charlotteville metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of Virginia. Its population grew by 35 percent from 2000 to 2020 and is projected to grow an additional 25 percent by 2050. Continued residential growth concerns some local residents because of the potential loss of prime farmland and open space to development and the possible negative fiscal impact of new residential development. The incremental taxable value of residential properties is often less than the public services demand. As urbanization proceeds, communities also often require more physical infrastructure and demand higher levels of public services, such as faster public safety responses, additional parks and recreation services, and other urban amenities.
Results from the Cost of Community Services analysis show that residential land uses generated an estimated $265 million in county revenues while consuming approximately $347 million in county services in FY 2022 for a deficit of $82 million. Commercial/industrial and agriculture/open space generated estimated surpluses of $70 million and $4 million respectively, resulting in a total FY 2022 budget deficit of approximately $7 million. The FY 2022 budget COCS ratio is computed by dividing the total county budget expenditure by county revenue for each land use category. This calculation results in COCS ratios of 1.309 for residential land use, 0.320 for commercial/industrial land use, and 0.537 for agriculture/open space land use.