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How Economic Developers Evaluate Project Impacts - Site Selection Magazine -March 2001Page 2 of 6 communities what good citizens we are and what benefits our firm has for the community. These analytical • tools include objective economic, fiscal,market value, infrastructure and environmental impact studies.But how does our public sector counterpart,the municipality, evaluate the benefits of your firm as a member of their community? Survey Respondents The research in this article is based on a national survey of municipal economic development officials regarding their views on and practices in municipal economic development. Surveys were sent to a random sampling of economic development administrators in 1,500 of the 2,600 U.S. cities with populations between 10,000 and 300,000. Slightly over 27 percent of the cities responded to the survey.The economic development administrators completing the survey were identified through the National League of Cities as having management responsibility for the economic development activities in their respective communities. The respondents to the survey fell into the following professional categories: economic and community development managers, elected officials and planning and zoning officials and individuals managing public development corporations. Based on population,the distribution of cities responding to the survey differed in composition from the actual distribution of U.S. cities. Fewer officials responded to the survey from cities with populations over 200,000 and from cities with 111' ' 1 1'"1I"1`11 'I`2 d Ii �'�Ilf.i.' ' na '.�)iali�t II" F}sarliw I ++I€I;�U populations between 10,000 and 24,999.Table 1 shows city of population ranges in relation to the actual composition of U.S. cities Pawl" I'P""66"W NOM or Now 32 22 and that of the survey respondents. *meanun as u *SUM 182 From the perspective of a corporate real estate executive or site °�A°�to r o to si a� selection specialist,the value of developing better relationships with *mow 111 and knowledge of public-sector economic development practices is '6"1""4"44''.4' 104P""*"" critical. More and more,municipal economic development activities are being reviewed(and criticized)by elected officials and citizens. From a corporate perspective,this results in site selection and expansion options becoming more constrained.For many projects,this public criticism will ultimately mean higher site costs and concessions on the part of the corporation seeking to locate or expand in a certain community. For some projects it will mean that the second or third most desirable location will have to be accepted. By developing a better understanding of public-sector economic development analysis and decision making, corporate real estate executives can identify and successfully address the most critical community and project variables surrounding corporate real estate projects. Municipal Economic Development Practices It is important to point out the type of community in which the survey respondents worked. Table 2 identifies the respondents'community " 'poll 1,1,11011111'1 type. Commeditt ,tf • The survey also considers the administrative setting where t Car • 14.11 municipal economic development activities are based. The value of igneriNalbeb Seceadllist Saes 111 this information is that an economic development agency's 70/40f0Ee su&aah 6.4/ http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2001/mar/p146/ 4/5/01