Sprawl is not fiscally prudent —Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 12 July 2011

David Rodock wrote in the VDT 13 July 2011, Citizens speak against Cat Creek crowding:
Gretchen Quarterman also spoke against the proposition, citing that extending residential areas further out into undeveloped Lowndes County would create greater strain on an already tight fiscal operating budget.
She referred to a report County Planner Jason Davenport commissioned from Prof. Jeffrey H. Dorfman of UGA, Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County, December 2007, in which he recommended development close in to existing services for the most benefit to all parties. As Prof. Dorfman has said,
“Local governments must ensure balanced growth, as sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*
* Or at least big tax increases.”
He noted
“The same growth done more densely and contiguously saves both money, farmland, and provides environmental amenities.”
Prof. Dorfman has even quantified national averages for dollars of revenue for each $1 of municipal expenditures:
  • Residential: $0.87
  • Commercial/Industrial: $3.45
  • Farmland/Forestland/Open Space: $2.70
Farms and forests are net financial benefits to the county. Residential, unless expensive or close in to existing services, is a net drain on the county coffers. Prof. Dorfman quantified how expensive and how close in in his report to Lowndes County.

Sound on the video of Gretchen speaking is bad due to the camera problems we’ve been having. They turn out to be operator error (it was my fault), which we finally discovered after that meeting.

Here’s the video:


Sprawl is not fiscally prudent —Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 12 July 2011
Nottinghill, Cat Creek, rezoning, REZ-2011-10,
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 July 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq