Fiscal, Economic, and Social Impact Analyses
Fiscal Impact Analysis
A Fiscal Impact Analysis (FIA) estimates the impact of a proposed development, land use or policy change on the revenues and costs of the local or state government.
An FIA presents the financial tool needed by local government decision-makers to evaluate revenues and costs associated with a specific development, prior to approval and construction, and before the actual impact occurs.
In addition, an FIA can be an important tool when comparing multiple land use alternatives available for the same area. The FIA can estimate revenues and costs associated with each alternative and allow the local government to choose the most financially beneficial land use.
An FIA may be useful to estimate the impact of a policy change on the budget of a local government. As an example, EEC analyzed the impact of restricting housing growth in a county on the budget of that county. It is important for a public entity to understand the full financial impact of any changes it may wish to implement.
A fiscal impact analysis may also include the feasibility and impacts of alternative financing solutions such as STAR (Sales Tax Anticipation Revenue) bonds, TIF (Tax Increments Financing) districts, SAD (Special Assessment Districts), as well as various other funding structures and public-private partnership options.
Economic Impact Analysis
An Economic Impact Analysis (EIA) estimates the impact on the regional economy of an expansion or contraction of a business, industry, or any large organization (including governmental entities), public policy changes, and more. The analysis estimates the direct and indirect impacts of a regional economic change and tracks the change through different industry groups by using multipliers.
Multipliers are predicated upon a domino theory of economic change and track the "ripple" effect of economic activity throughout the economy. Commonly considered direct and indirect impacts include:
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Number of Temporary and Permanent Jobs Created or Lost
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Increase or Decrease in Region's Total Output, Labor Income, and Value Added Levels from business operations, construction, visitors, and more
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Tax impacts of direct, indirect, and induced changes in the region
An economic impact analysis may be used as a tool for an industry or an association of businesses to show the positive impact of that industry or group on the regional economy. This may be useful if the industry or group is facing tax increases or changes in regulation.
The analysis may also be useful in projecting the impact of a new industry moving to a region in terms of supplier and customer linkages, employment, and output changes in the region.
Finally, many local, state, and Federal funding programs require an estimate of the economic impacts, especially employment, of projects seeking funding from these programs.
Social Impact Analysis
A Social Impact Analysis (SIA) considers the impact of the above changes on the well-being of the region's residents. This includes analyses of resident access to public and private services, infrastructure, and recreation. It can also include estimated of changes in demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the region's residents, including population, age, race, gender, income, housing, and other characteristics.
Why EEC
EEC's expertise in conducting impact studies is based on almost two decades of professional experience, along with robust academic research and experience understanding economic forces driving these changes.
EEC has considerable experience in the field of alternative funding analyses, having worked on various STAR bond, TIF, SAD, and federal stimulus funded projects.
Additionally, EEC, in partnership with the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, is the leader in estimating economic and fiscal impacts of special events in Northern Nevada, including Hot August Nights, Reno Air Races, Santa Crawl, Reno Rodeo, and more.
EEC also has considerable experience performing economic impact studies for state and Federal funding programs, including the EB-5 (immigration) program, having performed hundreds of studies for multiple industries across the US.