Johnston County moves to hire consultant for cost-of-community-services and fiscal-impact model

Johnston County commissioners directed staff Sept. 15 to pursue a contract with Creative Economic Consulting to produce a cost-of-community-services study and a local fiscal-impact model intended to help planners, school officials and elected leaders evaluate the long-term fiscal effects of land-use and development.

The consultants presented a two-part engagement at the county's regular meeting. Crystal Morphis, principal of Creative Economic Consulting, told commissioners the two studies would provide a high-level ratio analysis by land-use type and a separate, more granular model for proposed development projects. "If we started these projects in October, complete the cost of services around January, the fiscal impact model a little bit later around February," Morphis said.

The studies: why commissioners asked for them

The board and staff have pursued the work to give decisionmakers a clearer numeric basis for land-use, zoning and incentives decisions. Morphis said the cost-of-community-services study measures the ratio of county spending to revenues by land-use category (residential, commercial, industrial, agriculture), which helps show whether new development types generally pay for the services they…