I have to agree with Janes_Vegas, lack of planning can lead to expensive problems down the road. Witness the unregulated suburban growth that occurred in northern Illinois and the congestion, flooding issues, school crowding, etc, that came with it.

Look at some of the headlines from the past week. Failing septic systems are spoiling lakes in Walworth county, a house fire in Bradford leads to a total loss. Continue growing subdivisions in these areas and sooner or later you will have to started upgrading the services you provide and that will drive up your cheap tax rate, especially since there are no commercial or industrial properties in the tax base.

Add in the loss of valuable farm land and the environmental consequences from the commuting that these new residents do to travel to their jobs in Madison, Milwaukee and even Chicago and these subdivisions look less and less sustainable. It is only reasonable and prudent for officials to slow this down and wait until their long range planning process is completed.

Towns have for the most part welcomed development in recent years for the purpose of increasing the tax base. This tends to lower property taxes and provides increased revenue for annual budgets. Some of that increased revenue has been used to offset lowered assessments for farmland. The downside is that development in the country uses more land than municipal development because of the lack of municipal sewer and water which is more efficient than private wells and septic systems. It takes some of the best farmland on earth out of production and competes with development in municipalities. The benefit is that it provides revenue for the maintenance of country roads which is getting more and more expensive and straining town budgets to the limits.

newsread5, I think you are looking only at the short term. The costs of poor planning can be quite substantial down the road. This could include a drop in future property values due to some of the consequences the article mentions. The loss of farmland and the environmental impact of development must also be taken into consideration.

How do increased development costs raise taxes for everyone?

Land use regulation drives the cost of housing. The increase in costs to develop and build raises taxes for all properties and people. Some planning is necessary, but raising housing costs should be part of the debate on what is required.