COM 0208.106 2004-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Gail Byrne, MSCL 68-3551 Awamoa P[ Waikoloa, Hawaii 96738 May 18 2005 Aloha, Honorable Members of the County Council, How can we justify funding Bill 78 when we ]carve other competing needs, such as public safety and infrastructure? The answer and the facts are that open space decreases crime and public safety costs; open space decrease infrarlrurture needs and costs; open spcu~e decreases community health costs. AND Open space produces a tax revenue surplus that subsidizes other land uses and pays for public safety and roads. These are well-documertted farts from studies and information gathered from communities from arourut rlre countr'v. And, it will be much less expensive to purchase open space norov rhos? one or five years from nouv. When I was here two weeks ago presenting testimony, it was clear that most Council Members supported the intent of Bill 78. The primary concerns I heard about Bill 78 were, "how can we financially justify this Bill given the many other pressing needs, such as public safety and meeting a back log of infrastructure requirements?". And I heard members suggesting that there might be a better way to fund open space acquisition. As I was listening to these important considerations and concerns, I thought "what if I can show them the data, the reports and studies from around the country that show if you invest in open space, your public safety costs go down. If you invest in open space, infrastructure costs and needs decrease. I thought, if I could present this data to the Council, then I bet at least a couple members who have had these thoughtful concerns about how to juggle all these needs and costs (safety, infrastructure, open space) would then have the data to feel comfortable in knowing that investing in open space is not taking away financially from these other needs and then they could support Bill 78. So included in this testimony are 12 new references and examples showing that open space is not a trade off for public safety and infrastructure. This is in addition to the 21 references on the economic benefits of open space I provided two weeks ago. The following are a few specific examples from the references: Open Space Subsidizes Other Community Services • Open space produces a tax revenue surplus that subsidizes other land uses.' The median national value for the revenue-to-expenditure ratio for residential development is1.15 and 0.37 for open space and farms. ° Open space ensures income for other community service needs. • The conclusion in a paper by Soren Anderson of the Economics Department at Macalaster College states that local governments must factor in the (positive) tax revenue benefit of o h~ open space preservation when making fiscal decisions'. ~ O•'lJ1O Comm. No. Ref. To: Preae~wd Page ! ofd Rc~f. Uate