Business Planning for Major Open Space Program
Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council (California)
PG&E, the utility company serving Northern California, reached a settlement agreement with a taxpayer advocacy group in 2003 to divest 144,000 acres of watershed lands throughout California. The agreement includes PG&E funding to support the Stewardship Council, the lead entity in this major open space transfer process. BAE has served as the Stewardship Council’s economic advisor throughout the process. Our first assignment involved providing capital cost information to support the award-winning Land Conservation Plan.
The settlement agreement stipulated that land transfers be accomplished in a “revenue neutral” manner. To meet this objective, BAE analyzed how local counties would be impacted fiscally by the transfer of PG&E land to non-taxpaying entities. We conducted a detailed county-by-county review of the potential lost property taxes following these transactions, and recommended methods to compensate local governments for lost revenues. BAE also researched how land donations to federal and state agencies might generate fiscal benefits to local counties through payments in-lieu of taxes, revenue sharing from timber sales, and other programs. BAE also outlined a methodology for the Stewardship Council to monitor the ongoing fiscal and economic impacts of the PG&E land transfers. we performed a literature review of the economic impact of park and recreational lands, and identified potential monitoring tools, including input-output models, sales and transient occupancy tax analyses, and user surveys. The Stewardship Council Board of Directors has used these to establish a monitoring plan for donated watershed lands. The Stewardship Council has commenced implementation of its Plan, with pilot land transfers underway.