Page 206 - Littleton, CO Comprehensive Plan
P. 206
Fiscal Impact Analysis
The City of Littleton, CO
▪ Under the marginal cost approach, growth triggers facilities and other infrastructure needs
that are built, acquired, or improved once a capacity threshold is reached, resulting in
“lumpier” fiscal impact results. The following exception should be noted:
• The transportation capital costs projected in this analysis align with the Transportation
Master Plan component of the Envision Littleton Comprehensive Plan; it is assumed that
transportation infrastructure investments will be driven by growth in population and jobs.
Because population and jobs are projected to grow at a consistent rate, transportation
capital costs follow this same linear pattern.
▪ The analysis assumes that capital improvements will be financed on a pay-go basis, meaning
they are cash-funded at the time the infrastructure is developed or acquired. We chose to
model capital investments in this way due to the City’s emphasis on fiscal sustainability (debt
financing is more expensive than cash-financing). Moreover, in contrast to debt-financing
which spreads the cost of infrastructure investments out over time—potentially beyond the
20-year planning period—the pay-go assumption allows our analysis to capture and present
the full cost of all needed capital improvements within the 20-year planning period.
We utilized these assumptions along with the previously described land use scenarios to calculate the
fiscal impact of distinct development patterns on the City over the 20-year projection period. We
performed these calculations using a customized fiscal impact model designed specifically for the City
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of Littleton.
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A general note on rounding: Calculations throughout this report are based on an analysis conducted using
Excel software. Results are discussed in the report using one-and two-digit places (in most cases), which
represent rounded figures. However, in some cases the analysis itself uses figures carried to their ultimate
decimal places; therefore the sums and products generated in the analysis may not equal the sum or product if
the reader replicates the calculation with the factors shown in the report (due to rounding).
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