WHY IS IT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND LOCATION VARIABLE COSTS?
EMR is awaiting Groveton’s examples of same house, same builder prices to support his assertions on THE ANATOMY OF AN ILLUSION post.
In the meantime, Groveton has forgotten that EMR has outlined homework for Groveton to use to prove to himself the validity of location-variable cost calculations.
Before we start lets be sure everyone understands that it is not Groveton’s fault that he does not pay his location-variable costs. No one does for reasons spelled out in The Shape of the Future. The same is true for the full cost of air travel – greatly subsidized by all tax payers and by all citizens but that is another story.
First EMR is glad that he did not say that Groveton could not afford to live where he does if he had to pay the location-variable costs. EMR said Groveton would not have made the location decision if he knew the true costs and thought he would have to pay that cost. EMR stands with that.
Based on his 8:30 AM comment of 14 March, Groveton probably could afford the true cost but he does not pay that cost and neither do his Clustermates and they may or may not be able to afford those costs.
In the 8:30 AM post Groveton said:
“OK –
“It’s tax time in the Old Dominion. I pay about $225,000 in state and local taxes. Not federal and I’m not even counting sales taxes, etc. Just plain old income and real estate taxes. I live on a 7 acre lot. I drive about 10,000 miles per year – total (commute and errands). My street is owned by me and the neighbors. We pay to pave it, plow it, repair it, etc. I have my own septic system and well water. I have five sons – one is in college (out of state), three go to private schools and one is in the Fairfax County system.”
“Now … just one more time … please explain how I am not covering my full costs.”
It is clear that Groveton would pay the same state and municipal taxes if lived in a dwelling that was taxed the same amount REGARDLESS OF WHERE he lived in the Commonwealth and the municipal jurisdiction. So by definition, not much of the information provided gives a hint of total location-variable costs.
In general taxes one pays DO NOT go to support location-variable costs. If one could reallocate payments to the location-variable cost categories Groveton, who pays $225,000 might come close,but on average those in his Cluster, Neighborhood and Village do not come close.
There is further information from Groveton’s past posts that provide additional insights:
Groveton says he “lives Great Falls.” By that we suspect he means that he lives in the 22066 Zip Code. (More on Zip Code data problems in a future post.)
Groveton also implied that he is in the Difficult Run watershed and that this stream is close to where he lives. That means he lives in the far southeast (most Urban) corner of Zip 22066. His total location-variable costs will be lower here than in “Great Falls Proper” which is north and west of the Walker Road / Georgetown Pike Cross Roads (Village Centre). Places such as Richland Forest, Tally Ho or Beach Mill Downs to pick three names at random off the map
Now about those costs:
The first thing to do is to pick a nice house on Lake Audubon or Lake Thoreau that has about the same market value as his house.
The following will remind Groveton that EMR suggested an exercise to get a grip on location variable costs.
Start with electricity. How much is the cost of generation, transmission and distribution of a kilowatt to Groveton’s vis the alternative (capital cost and monthly delivery). Be sure to figure in line loss for low voltage transmission, the singe most clear demonstration of location-variable costs.
There are 40 plus or minus services that vary in cost by location that are, by-in-large now charged on a flat fee basis.
The original calculations were based on 1,000, 4 bedroom, two car garage Single Household Detached Dwelling Units (a nominal Neighborhood) located on 10,000 acres in four different patterns:
10 acre lots
functional but scattered Dooryards
functional but scattered Clusters
A functional Neighborhood.
It was assumed this Neighborhood was adjacent to another Neighborhood but the location- variable cost savings at the Village, Community, Subregion and Region were NOT calculated.
The best available cost were used and yes there were changes for water and sewer licencing, monitoring, and testing and off site impacts based on charges made in other Regions.
There were assumptions about the cost of bussing children, the cost of mail delivery, parcel delivery, telephone service, etc.
The data was collected and refined over a four year period. Two years after The Shape of the Future was published, and no one who bothered to take the time to understand the calculations challenged the assumptions or the numbers the data was recycled when EMR moved to from Inside the Clear Edge around the Core of the Subregion to a location inside the Clear Edge around a potentially Balanced but Disaggregated Village.
In 2008, some of the costs will be higher, some will change completely – cell phones use for example — but overall the 10 X Rule would stand up quite well.
Groveton said: “This is BS. The facts don’t support the conjecture.”
This is not BS, it may appear to be inconsistent with the experience of those who do not bother to take the time to understanding human settlement patterns and location-variable costs.
In the same string of comments, TMT said that “Not EMR” was smoking something AND inhaling.
Actually “Not EMR” really does understand, he / she just can not bring themselves to admit it, and so they work to obscure and obfuscate reality.
TMT also said: “A semi-rural Great Falls is the best friend of county residents.”
It would be it the residents paid their fair share of the location-variable costs.
There is no reason for scattered Urban land uses outside the logical location of the Clear Edge around the Core of the Subregion – UNLESS THEY ARE IN COMPONENT OF A BALANCED COMMUNITY, in which case they would be within a Clear Edge of that Alpha Community.
EMR