Milton weighs cost/benefit of Granary

An early draft of a cost/benefit analysis on whether to annex 450 acres of land off Sand Hill Road into Milton shows that the benefits in tax revenue and fees outweigh the costs of annexing the land.

Milton’s Special Review Committee will meet at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 19, at Milton library to continue discussion of the analysis, which shows that the land annexation and subsequent development into the 1,350-unit Granary at Draper Farms, would bring in $5 million in revenue from taxes and fees while adding $3.5 million in costs for hiring new employees and purchasing equipment over the course of 20 years. 

Sean O’Neill, a policy scientist from the University of Delaware, presented the first draft of the analysis at the committee’s Oct. 7 meeting. He said the Granary development would double the size of Milton over the projected 20-year span of development, adding 2,673 residents by 2043. 

O’Neill said the town would need to add six new police officers and two new streets department employees, and purchase a snowplow and street sweeper, again, over the span of development. He said the parks department would need to hire two new employees and purchase new lawn mowers to service the projected 55 acres of park space that developer Convergence Communities has pledged to the town. Finally, O’Neill said the town would also need to hire additional employees in public works to handle utilities at the development. 

O’Neill said the biggest revenue driver for the town will be transfer tax and property taxes. While those revenues are subject to market forces, he said a conservative estimate for revenue is $5 million over 20 years, which includes home resales, fees and costs paid to the town by the developer. 

For committee members, what outweighed even the costs and revenue was the fact that should the town say no, the development could still be built, but under the auspices of Sussex County. While Convergence Communities founder Colby Cox has said that is not the company’s intention, it is still an option. 

Committee member Richard Trask said if Milton does not annex the property, the result could be detrimental to the town, as Milton officials will not have any say in how the property is developed. Councilman John Collier, committee chair, expounded further, saying if the development comes under county control, there will be a large influx of people using the town’s services but not paying anything toward them. He said if the development went to the county, all the revenue raised would go to the county, which Collier believed would not invest it back into Milton. 

“It’s a very unique opportunity. It’s huge,” Collier said. “I’m having a hard time recognizing any financial disadvantage for the town. Even aesthetically, I’m having problems finding faults.” 

“From my point of view, I don’t see how the town can not do this,” Trask said.