B. Municipal Service Costs
Given the nature of the proposed development project, as will be seen by the
analysis below, few significant impacts will be felt by City Departments. Solid
waste generated by the project will be removed by a private hauler. Any water
and sewer expenses will be offset through user fees. All of the proposed new
driveways will be private and all maintenance expense will be paid for by the
project owner. This is not to infer that no costs will occur as a result of this
project. Measurable impacts will be felt by a few City departments, most
noticeable the School Department, Police and Fire Departments. It should be
noted the costs outlined are “estimates” and no actual costs will be seen without
review and approval by appropriate department heads, administrators and City
elected officials.
Police & Fire
The Police and Fire Departments are projected to experience some measurable
impact from the proposed project. For fiscal year 2020, the Police Department
budget was $31,649,202 and the Fire Department budget was $24,540,642. To
assess the degree of impact this project may have on these departments, calls to
the existing 564 unit Tara Heights were analyzed. Emergency call data was
obtained from the police and fire departments and averaged to determine the
numbers of calls annually per unit. These ratios were then totaled to derive a total
average call volume per unit, which was then used to generate projected
emergency calls for each Department; Table Six.
Extrapolating from the comparable call data, increases are projected to the City's
Police and Fire Departments. Annual Police calls are projected to increase by 48
calls per year (less than 1% increase), annual fire calls are projected to increase
by 21 calls per year (less than 1%).
