The Public Finance Implications of Land Uses and Community Services: Walker Township, Centre County

This paper presents the results from a land use and community service study conducted in Walker Township (Centre County), which investigated the relationship between land uses and local government expenditures and revenues. It compares the local government and school district revenues provided by different land uses with the cost of providing services to those land uses. The study followed the methodology of similar studies by the American Farmland Trust. Four land uses were considered: Residential land, Industrial land, Commercial land, and Agricultural land. The definitions follow Pennsylvania tax assessment conventions, with one exception. The buildings and homes on farms (the homestead) were treated as residential properties. Land without buildings on farms was categorized as Agricultural land. This was done to make the study consistent with the earlier American Farmland Trust studies.