Cost-Benefit Analysis

Urbanomics is highly proficient in evaluating the costs and benefits in terms of economic and fiscal impacts of policy, capital investment and operations using the industry’s most popular input-output economic modeling software including IMPLAN, RIMS II and REMI. Input-output modeling provides the ability to trace spending through an economy and measure the cumulative effects of that spending. I.e., the ripple effects of spending throughout the economy. This can be measured in terms of local business revenues, GDP, jobs and wages. The events measured can include the construction of a development, operations of said development, as well as the likely expenditures of employees or any new households in the development. We also prepare custom fiscal analysis models for use in determining municipal tax benefits of projects tailored to each of our clients in order to ensure flexibility to reflect the diversity of local tax situations and to allow for a transparency of the modeling process. These taxes may include property tax, retail sales and hotel taxes, as well as estimated income tax for new households in residential developments.

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The final part of the cost/benefit analyses services is the presentation of the results. In most circumstances, the cost/benefit analysis is a decision-making tool to be used by committees who may not be versed in the subject matter or methodologies used. Urbanomics’ cost/benefit deliverables generally take the form of short, easy-to-understand memoranda or illustrative presentations to our clients, presenting the final results as key points, then supported with a description of the assumptions, source data and methodology.