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Any analysis that attempts to directly measure social, legal environmental, <br />ecological, opportunity and other costs would be highly subjective instead <br />of reliably measurable. It would not be capable of being used to make <br />meaningful comparisons or to being applied in an equitable manner. What <br />is needed is a meaningful fiscal impact analysis tool that is measurable. <br />MRC defines "fiscal impact' as the financial and/or economic <br />consequences to the city that result from an entity's physical presence <br />within the city. Physical presence may take the form of a land use, <br />development, or user (commercial, industrial, residential, institutional, <br />governmental). MRC's definition is based on the premise that there is a <br />strong correlation between physical presence and fiscal impact. If there is <br />no physical presence, there is no fiscal impact. <br />A meaningful measure of fiscal impact is one that relates physical presence <br />to revenue generation. It is obtained by dividing an entity's total revenue <br />contribution to the city by the same entity's measurable manifestations of <br />physical presence within the city. This provides a valid, size -adjusted <br />equivalent unit of measurement for analyzing relative fiscal impact and <br />revenue productivity based on physical presence. <br />In other words, the cost of police, fire and other city services - plus the <br />social, legal, environmental, ecological opportunity, and other costs <br />imposed upon a community by a commercial, industrial, institutional or <br />government entity - are directly related to the physical presence that can be <br />measured in terms of land area/building space occupied, number of <br />employees, etc. or a composite factor. <br />To evaluate a city's tax structure and economic base - in terms of fairness, <br />equity and fiscal self-reliance - it is necessary to make comparisons without <br />distortions caused by the different sizes of different entities. <br />Also, different business classifications attract different numbers of <br />customers and suppliers per square foot of space occupied and persons <br />employed. The City's cost of providing public safety and infrastructure <br />therefore differs by the type of business. <br />By capturing and relating elements of physical presence to revenue contribution, in <br />size -adjusted equivalent units of measurement, GRIP enables MRC to analyze a <br />city's tax structure and economic base in terms of relative fiscal impact and revenue <br />productivity. Tice need for this information becomes increasingly critical as each <br />city moves towards fiscal self-reliance and dependence on its own tax structure and <br />economic base to fund the city's service costs. <br />9 <br />