Cost of community services (COCS) studies compare the costs and revenue generated by various land use categories, such as residential, commercial, industrial, and farmland/open space. This allows for the evaluation of the fiscal impacts of the various land uses and the impacts of changing from one land use to another.
These are COCS case studies from a variety of municipalities and townships that illustrate open space and farmland tend to raise more revenue than they require to be spent on services, and residential lands tend to require more funds to be spent for services than they raise in revenue, cost of community services studies show the importance of open space and farmland to a community's fiscal well-being and the importance of having a wide tax-base with a variety of land uses.
For more information on this tool, see the Cost of Community Services Studies guide at ConservationTools.org.