Vision SMTX Appendix Adopted 2024

Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.

APPENDIX C: KEY FINDINGS FROM FISCAL IMPACT ANALYSIS

Introduction and Summary of Findings

Introduction The City of San Marcos were interested in understanding the fiscal impact of future land use and development patterns as a component of Vision SMTX Comprehensive Plan process. Economic & Planning Systems (EPS) built a fiscal impact mode for the City of San Marcos. The model was used to evaluate the land use scenarios developed for the plan. This report presents the findings of fiscal impact analysis. In this report we: • Summarize the methodology used in the models for each community. • Present the results of the fiscal impact analysis of the three growth scenarios. • Summarize policy implications and recommendations. EPS reviewed the major governmental and special revenue funds in the budget for San Marcos and assessed how they are affected by new development, land use changes, or patterns of growth. The major revenues and expenditures that are affected by new development and each major fund were identified, and the impacts of growth on these revenues and expenditures were modeled. EPS used the estimated growth of population, households, and jobs within Hays County developed for the Comprehensive Plan over the 2050 plan horizon as inputs into the models. Two growth scenarios were used to allocate the forecast growth in the city from 2020 to 2050 within place type categories resulting in a variation in the mix of housing unit types, job types, nonresidential development, and development density in each scenario. The two scenarios are: • Scenario A: Existing Trends – This scenario forecasts a continuation of development trends in the recent past that have shown continued outward expansion of the city with minimal direction related to protection of environmentally sensitive areas or coordination to limit impacts on existing neighborhoods. • Scenario B: Preferred Growth – This scenario reflects the preferred growth pattern identified by the community and prescribed in the Preferred Scenario Map. This scenario aims to attract new development to areas best suited to serve new uses and minimize impacts on sensitive areas. A major component of the strategy is the development of a second city center in the southern part of the city to complement the existing Downtown Area.

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SAN MARCOS COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2024

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