Cost of Community Services study for Red Deer County The Fiscal Implications of Land Use: A “Cost of Community Services” Study for Red Deer County MAIN REPORT The Fiscal Implications of Land Use: A “Cost of Community Services” Study for Red Deer County Report 2: MAIN REPORT Prepared by Guy Greenaway and Stephanie Sanders April 2006 Miistakis Institute c/o EVDS - University of Calgary 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Ph: 403-220-8968 Email:
[email protected] Web: www.rockies.ca Acknowledgements In developing the methods for this study, we relied heavily on those who had gone before, and those with expertise in this area. We are particularly indebted to Mark Haggerty and Ray Rasker of the Sonoran Institute, Carl Mailler and Julia Freedgood of the American Farmland Trust, Bill Symonds of Alberta Municipal Affairs, Larissa Muller of the Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, and Mike Quinn and Greg Chernoff of the Miistakis Institute, University of Calgary. We are also grateful to the other municipalities who took the time to participate and contribute to the Cost of Community Services Multi-Municipality Workshop, specifically the representatives from County of Camrose, County of Stettler, Lacombe County, Leduc County, MD of Rocky View, Mountain View County, Strathcona County, Sturgeon County, Town of Bowden, and Wheatland County. One of the greatest difficulties we anticipated with conducting this project was appearing in the Red Deer County offices as outside researchers and facing a group of managers and staff who saw this study as an unclear academic exercise that was a drain on their already full calendars.