Downtown South Bend is seen last month during the annual Art Beat festival. Joe Minicozzi, an expert in land-value economics and tax analysis, told a local Realtors group on Wednesday that communities should focus investment in downtowns and other urban neighborhoods, because those areas are where the per-acre value is highest. SBT Photo/GREG SWIERCZ
SOUTH BEND — One of the common calls among frustrated taxpayers is that government should operate more like a business.
Joe Minicozzi agrees.
The real-estate consultant from Asheville, N.C., travels around the country, urging local officials to look at their cities as corporations and encourage investments that lead to the best returns — which, for a government, means tax revenue. On Wednesday, he presented at The History Museum in South Bend.
Minicozzi has found that, in many cities, the best returns come in downtowns and urban neighborhoods, while suburban subdivisions and shopping centers tend to be money-losers for local governments.
The reason is that dense development in a city center creates more value per acre than a spread-out, suburban-style project. Inner-city development also costs government less in the long run because roads, sewers and other infrastructure don't need to be expanded to reach it.
"You've got to pay for that infrastructure," Minicozzi said Wednesday. "At the very least, you should get your cost back from what you put into it."
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