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activity to provide services to residents. Germantown officials were also considering two other alternatives: one was to encourage nonresidential, light -industrial and office uses; the other was to increase the density of residential development. The fiscal impact analysis focused on marginal costs and revenues based on local data factors —the case study approach was used wherever possible. Exhibit 2 indicates that all three alternatives would have positive financial results for the city. The study confirmed that the current land -use alternative emphasizing low -density single-family housing will enable Germantown to remain inn a positive fiscal posture for the foreseeable future. The projeced cumulative surplus of $41 million is about 77 percent of the surplus that might be generated by the high employment scenario. Elected officials have found that the fiscal impact analysis has given them a more specific baseline against which to measure requests proposed by developers. The mayor and aldermen now are able to ask whether a proposal would have an economic impact over and above that projected based on the future land -use plan. Germantown purchased a tailored software system for future fiscal evaluations. As quoted in the Germantown News, the administrator said, "We now have a tool. We can use this study to calculate what it will cost, both in the short and long term, to maintain and develop the city in various ways." The city has continued to use the program for three primary purposes: reviewing annexation ques- tions, evaluating the impact of proposed large develop- ments (both shopping centers and residential), and capital improvements planning. Germantown has an annual annexation process through which it looks at the costs and revenues that would result from additional annexation. Faced with high growth pressures, the city has found the fiscal impact analysis software program worthwhile in helping the planning commission and the board of mayor and aldermen review the fiscal effects of new growth. In the capital improvements planning process, Germantown uses the fiscal impact analysis program in planning for future fire and police service needs. Germantown has a five-year capital improvements program, and uses the fiscal impact analysis information for background in scoping out budget proposals and related capital improvements requests by department. Overall, fiscal impact analysis enables Germantown to maintain its land -use policies and understand and articulate the assumptions on which they are based and their fiscal ramifications. Venice, Florida —Developing Strategies to Serve Future Growth The city of Venice, Florida, has a permanent population of about 15,000 and a seasonal population of 19,000. t Located in Sarasota County on the booming Gulf coast, Venice is experiencing growth pressures. Developers in the country are requesting annexation, in large part because the city can provide better services to future residents than can the county. Venice decided to address several items in its 1987 fiscal impact analysis. It wanted to evaluate two growth alternatives, develop a capital improvement program that would identify existing facility deficiencies and project facility needs due to growth, and create a revenue - development strategy. The first alternarive assumed growth would continue to the year 2000 as projected in the comprehensive plan. The second alternative assumed that additional growth would result from annexation of an area to the north and east of the existing city limits. City department heads and the consultant agreed on service level, cost, and revenue factors, and these were used in the fiscal evaluation of the two alternatives. The fiscal evaluation forecast the need for new capital facilities to serve growth resulting from annexation. Florida state law requires that local governments pro- vide a five-year projection of facilities to serve new develop- ment. Consequently, these new facilities were incorporated into a preliminary Capital Improvement Element (CIE) for Venice. According to the state taw, the CIE must also. describe existing deficiencies in capital facilities to serve the present population and the direct operating expenses of those facilities, and discuss the revenue sources the local government intends to use to pay for the needed capital facilities. This last requirement was part of the reason Venice decided to develop a revenue strategy as part of its fiscal impact analysis. The cumulative results of Venice's study indicated a fiscal surplus under both alternatives. An important reason for this was that the basic road network and schools are provided not by Venice but by Sarasota County. The alternative based on the comprehensive plan was slightly more beneficial from a fiscal perspective primarily because annexation would require that additional capital facilities be built within a few years of the annexation. .the fiscal impact analysis has helped the elected officials express their vision for the future.... Raleigh, North Carolina —Analyzing Economic Development Impacts Evaluating subareas of a community is a valuable approach for fiscal impact analyses since, as in the case of southeast Raleigh, existing capital facility capacities can be specified and revenue strategies can be targeted. (See the MIS Report for a full discussion) Plymouth, Minnesota —Analyzing Land -Use Alternatives and Costs for a Capital Facility Replacement Program Plymouth is a Minneapolis suburb with a population of about 45,000. In 1984, a cost revenue subcommittee com- posed of private sector representatives requested that the