Project Overview
   
  Cover Page    
     
     
     
     
       
       
 
Actions & Outcomes
   
     
     
     
     
     
       
       
 
Tools & Techniques
    
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
       
       
 
Documents & Links
   
     
     
     
     
     
     
       
       
 

Cost of Community Services Study

A Cost of Community Services (CoCS) study provides information about the financial impact of existing land uses in a municipality. It is a snapshot in time of current revenues and expenditures on a land use basis. A CoCS study analyzes the financial demands of public services and shows how much it costs to provide these services to working lands and open space, residential, and commercial/industrial land uses.

The Lamoille County Planning Commission (LCPC), following the methodology developed by the American Farmland Trust (AFT), conducted a CoCS study for the Town of Cambridge, Vermont during the summer of 2005. This study provides a model that can be adapted by municipalities in Vermont and elsewhere.

The Cambridge study showed that year-round residential land uses cost the municipality nearly twice what pay in as revenue. AFT has collected the results of more than 80 CoCS studies based on their methodology from around the country; the results from LCPC’s Cambridge study are similar to those found in other communities.

Explore the links below to learn more.

     

Resources

Project Documents Downloads & Links
Cost of Community Services Study chapter from the Northwest Project final report. (372 kb)

Lamoille County Planning Commission

(http://lamoillecounty.govoffice.com)

  • Cambridge CoCSS Final Report. (544 kb)
  • Cambridge CoCSS Executive Summary. (32 kb)
  • Cambridge CoCSS presentation. (842 kb)
  • Cambridge CoCSS maps. (2.2 mb)
  • Cambridge CoCSS spreadsheets. (1.0 mb)
 

American Farmland Trust

(www.farmland.org)

  • Cost of Community Services Study Fact Sheet, 2006. A downloadable PDF that summerizes AFT's CoCS study methodology and results from around the country.
  • Cost of Community Services Studies: Making the Case for Conservation, 2002. A printed publication for sale from the AFT bookstore.
  • AFT has completed more than 80 CoCS studies nationwide. Summary reports for many of those studies are available from their Farmland Information Center website as downloadable PDFs.